^       1)761 


PAPERS  AND  PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


Drake  Memorial  Celebration 

MAY  29,  1915 


TOGETHER  WITH   A 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  WRITINGS  OF 
DR.  JOSEPH  RODMAN  DRAKE 


BY 


VICTOR   HUGO    PALTSITS 


NEW    YORK 
THE  BRONX  SOCIETY  OF  ARTS  AN. 

1919 


_..CES 


I 


PAPERS  AND  PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


(Drake  Memorial  Celebration 

MAY  29,  1915 


TOGETHER  WITH  A 

BIBLIOGRAPHY  OF  THE  WRITINGS  OF 
DR.  JOSEPH  RODMAN  DRAKE 

BY 

VICTOR   HUGO    PALTSITS 


NEW   YORK 

THE  BRONX  SOCIETY  OF  ARTS  AND  SCIENCES 

1919 


Four  hundred  separata  reprinted  from 
Tkansactions,  Part  4,  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences 


Copyright,  1919,  by 
The  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences 


PRCSt  OP 

THf  NKW  ERA  PRINTINQ  COMPANY 
LAN0AS1CR.  PA. 


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^ag  29%  1915 


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A  TRIBUTE  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

DR.  JOSEPH  RODMAN  DRAKE 

THE  BRONX  POET 


ON  THE  NINETY-SIXTH  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  FIRST  PUBLICATION 
OF  HIS  CHARACTERISTICALLY  AMERICAN  POEM 


THE  AMERICAN  FLAG 


GIVEN  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF 

On  Saturday,  May  29th,  1915 


DR.  HENRY  M.  MacCRACKEN.  President 
ALBERT  E.  DAVIS.  Chairman  of  the  Council 


DRAKE  MEMORIAL  COMMITTEE 

HON.  VICTOR  HUGO  PALTSITS.  Chairman 
DR.  NATHANIEL  L.  BRITTON  GEORGE  E.  STONEBRIDGE 


LITERARY    EXERCISES 

In  the  MORRIS  HIGH  SCHOOL  At  Two  O'clock 


1.  MUSIC — By  the  Morris  High  School  Orchestra. 

2.  WELCOME— By  Principal  John  H.  Denbigh. 

3.  RESPONSE— By    Rev.    Dr.    Henry    M.    MacCracken, 

President  of  The  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

4.  ADDRESS—"  The  Bronx  in  Drake's  Time  and  To-day  " 

— by  the  Hon.  Douglas  Mathewson,  President  of  the 
Borough  of  The  Bronx. 

5.  PAPER— "Drake  as  a  Poet"— By  Professor  John  Ers- 

kine,  of  the  Department  of  English  and  Comparative 
Literature  in  Columbia  University. 

6.  PAPER— "The  Culprit  Fay:  A  Criticism  "—By  Dean 

Archibald  L.  Bouton,  of  the  College  of  Arts  and  Pure- 
Science  of  New  York  University. 

7.  SONG — "The  American  Flag"— words  by  Joseph  Rod- 

man Drake,  music  especially  composed  for  this  occa- 
sion by  Edwin  S.  Tracy,  Director  of  Music  in  the 
Morris  High  School— Sung  by  One  Hundred  Pupils  of 
the  School,  accompanied  by  the  Morris  High  School 
Orchestra. 

8.  PAPER—"  The  Family  of  Drake  "—By  Charles  de  Kay, 
Esq.,  Author,  Poet  and  Critic;  grandson  of  Joseph  Rod- 
man Drake. 

9.  MUSIC— By  the  Morris  High  School  Orchestra. 


Automobiles  have  been  provided  for  the  Council  and  its 
Guests  and  others  who  have  automobiles  are  invited  to  fall  in 
line  for  the  ride  to  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  Park  and  Bronx 
Park,  to  witness  the  unveiling  and  other  exercises. 


6 


UNVEILING    EXERCISES 


JOSEPH  RODMAN  DRAKE  PARK,  HUNTS  POINT 
AT  4.15  O'CLOCK. 


1.  PAPER—"  The  Hunt  Family  and  Hunts  Point  "—by  the 

Hon.  James  L.  Wells,  Treasurer  of  the  State  of  New 
York. 

2.  UNVEILING  OF  TABLET  AT  DRAKE'S  GRAVE— 

By  Miss  Helena  van  Brugh  de  Kay,  a  Great-grand- 
daughter of  the  Poet. 

3.  ADDRESS  of  Acceptance  of  the  Railing  and  Tablet  on 

Behalf  of  the  City  of  New  York — by  the  Hon.  Thomas 
W.  Whittle,  Park  Commissioner  of  The  Bronx. 

4.  NATIONAL  SALUTE  TO  THE  FLAG— By  Battery 

E,  Second  Artillery,  N.  G.,  N.  Y.     Lieutenant  Robert 
W.  Marshall,  commanding. 


Immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Salute  the  auto- 
mobiles will  proceed  to  Bronx  Park. 


UNVEILING   EXERCISES 


BRONX  PARK  GORGE 

BELOW  THE  OLD  SNUFF  MILL 
AT  5-15  O'CLOCK. 


1.  ADDRESS— By  Mr.  Albert  E.  Davis,  Chairman  of  the 

Council. 

2.  READING  OF  DRAKE'S  POEM  "  BRONX  "—By  the 

Hon.  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits,  Chairman  of  the  ^Drake 
Memorial  Committee. 

3.  UNVEILING  OF  TABLET— By  Miss  Sylvia  de  Kay,  a 

Great-grand-daughter  of  the  Poet. 

4.  ACCEPTANCE  OF  TABLET  on  behalf  of  the  City  of 

New  York — By  Commissioner  Whittle. 


EXHIBITION   OF  WORKS  BY  AND 
RELATING  TO  DRAKE 

IN  THE 

SOCIETY'S  MUSEUM 

IN  THE  LORILLARD  MANSION 
BRONX  PARK 


PAPERS   AND   PROCEEDINGS 
May  29,  191 5 


The  preceding  programme,  a  pretty  souvenir,  was  issued 
in  an  edition  of  one  thousand  copies  for  free  distribution. 
The  exercises  were  carried  out  as  planned  with  no  gaps  and 
a  few  impromptu  additions,  as  revealed  in  the  following 
proceedings. 

For  many  years  the  grave  of  Dr.  Joseph  Rodman  Drake 
had  lain  neglected  and  no  adequate  recognition  was  given  his 
memory  as  an  American  poet — the  first  native  poet  of  the  city 
of  New  York  whose  writings  continued  to  hold  undiminished 
favor  in  the  American  literary  pantheon.  Time  was  when  the 
grave  was  in  jeopardy  of  obliteration  by  a  street;  but  protests 
from  a  small  number  of  wideawake  citizens  and  editorial 
writers  led  to  a  cancellation  of  this  unholy  design  and  the 
perpetuation  of  the  graveyard  and  abutting  land  as  Joseph 
Rodman  Drake  Park,  at  Hunts  Point.  In  the  spring  of  1906, 
when  the  preservation  of  the  site  was  being  considered  by  the 
city  authorities,  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences  co- 
operated actively  and  was  represented  at  a  hearing  before  the 
local  board  of  Bronx  Borough  by  a  special  committee  consist- 
ing of  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits  and  Charles  W.  Stoughton. 

By  The  American  Flag  Drake  is  a  national  poet;  by  his 
charming  poem  on  the  Bronx  he  is  peculiarly  our  poet ;  whilst 
The  Culprit  Fay  belongs  to  the  English-speaking  peoples  every- 
where. So  it  was  most  appropriate  that  his  memory  should  be 
honored  at  home  where  his  mortal  remains  had  been  interred. 
This  duty  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences  fulfilled 
after  six  months  of  untiring  efforts  by  its  Drake  Memorial 
Committee  and  at  an  expense  of  more  than  six  hundred  dol- 
lars secured  from  its  members  and  interested  friends  in  Man- 


lO 


hattan  and  the  Bronx ;  particular  thanks  are  due  to  the  Board 
of  Managers  of  the  New  York  Botanical  Garden  who  paid 
for  the  large  bronze  tablet  and  cost  of  erection  in  the  gorge 
of  Bronx  Park  on  land  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Board. 

By  a  happy  coincidence,  the  96th  anniversary  of  the  first 
publication  of  The  American  Flag  in  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  fell  on  the  eve  of  the  day  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the 
men  who,  in  our  Civil  War,  gave  their  lives  that  not  one  star 
should  be  lost  from  that  flag.  The  exercises  of  Drake  Me- 
morial Day  began  in  the  Morris  High  School  at  2  125  P.M. 
The  music  under  the  direction  of  Director  Tracy  was  very 
much  enjoyed.  Principal  John  H.  Denbigh  welcomed  the 
Society  and  its  guests,  which  was  responded  to  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  Mitchell  MacCracken,  President  of  the  Bronx 
Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  After  paying  tribute  to  the 
work  of  Albert  E.  Davis,  chairman  of  the  Council,  and  Victor 
Hugo  Paltsits,  Chairman  of  the  Drake  Memorial  Committee, 
Dr.  MacCracken  said: 

The  Bronx  is  the  borough  of  parks  and  parkways.  Out  of 
its  wealth  of  parks,  exceeding  four  thousand  acres,  it  estab- 
lishes one  little  park  primarily  to  encircle  forever  and  defend 
the  resting-place  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  Not  alone  be- 
cause his  ashes  have  lain  here  near  one  hundred  years.  Nor 
because,  born  in  this  city,  he  lived  in  this  neighborhood  a  good 
portion  of  his  brief  life  of  only  five  and  twenty  years.  But 
especially  because  here  he  meJt  nature  most  lovingly.  His  form 
is  buried,  yet  he  lives  here  still  as  the  voice  of  the  natural 
world  all  around  us.  From  the  bank  of  yonder  little  river 
he  sings  of  "my  own  romantic  Bronx," 

"Thy  face,  more  pleasant  than  the  face  of  men; 
Thy  waves  are  old  companions. 
I  shall  see  a  well-remembered  form  in  each  old  tree 
And  hear  a  voice  long-loved  in  thy  wild  minstrelsy." 

On  my  library  shelf  for  half  a  century  has  stood  his  fairy 
tale  of  the  great  river  which  is  in  part  the  western  boundary 


II 

of  our  Borough.  I  have  read  it  again  this  week,  a  well- 
bound  volume  given  my  wife  in  her  girlhood,  with  a  hundred 
illustrations  and  more  than  a  hundred  well  printed  pages.  It 
claims  to  tell  the  story  of  a  culprit  fay.  But  the  real,  the 
essential  story,  reveals  that  a  youth  but  a  little  over  twenty 
years  of  age,  living  here,  had  come  to  know  nature  in  count- 
less beautiful  forms,  had  communed  with  nature  as  living  in 
each  flower  and  varied  leaf,  in  every  winged  thing  in  the  air, 
every  creeping  thing  in  the  earth,  every  swimming  thing  in 
the  water,  till  each  became  alive  with  a  fairy  soul,  or  with  a 
fairy  tenant  of  the  material  shape  which  seemed  ito  him,  as  it 
were,  a  living  soul. 

Upon  another  shelf  of  my  library  for  near  a  half  century 
have  stood  two  larger  volumes,  printed  in  New  York  just 
sixty  years  ago,  bearing  the  title  "American  Literature,"  by 
Duyckinck.  This  cyclopedia  gives  eleven  or  twelve  of  its 
closely  printed  columns  to  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  Nearly  all 
of  the  space  is  devoted  to  telling  of  how  this  young  man  gave 
voice  to  nature.  The  little  poem  from  which  I  have  repeated 
only  four  lines  furnishes,  for  nearly  every  one  of  its  forty- 
eight  lines,  a  subject  for  a  picture  which  might  be  transferred 
by  a  skilful  painter  of  landscapes  to  his  canvas. 

Drake  revealed  himself  more  truly  when  he  sang  of  nature 
than  when  he  wrote  of  the  flag  of  Amercia.  His  country  was 
fighting  Great  Britain  from  the  time  he  was  seventeen  till  he 
was  twenty,  when  the  war  ended  with  the  Battle  of  New 
Orleans.  Little  of  the  imagery  that  is  called  forth  by  war, 
when  judged  by  men  who  are  not  affected  by  temporary  in- 
sanity, can  be  pronounced  beautiful.  Here  was  an  ensign 
made  of  woven  pieces  of  various  colors  and  shapes,  called  the 
American  flag.  What  is  its  real  symbolism?  Its  thirteen 
stripes  stand  for  the  thirteen  self-governing  colonies  on  the 
Atlantic  shore.  The  stars,  however  many,  stand  both  for  the 
States  into  which  these  were  transformed  and  all  the  new 
States  that  were  added  thereto.  The  pure  hearts  required  of 
their  citizens  are  symbolized  by  the  color  of  pure  white;  the 


12 

true  hearts,  by  the  color  of  blue;  the  living,  throbbing,  self- 
sacrificing  hearts,  by  the  color  of  red.  That  the  States  are 
represented  as  a  constellation  of  stars  was  symbolic  of  the 
mission  of  our  nation  to  the  whole  world. 

To  the  thoughtful  mind,  the  true  poet  of  our  American  flag 
has  not  yet  shown  himself.  Both  Francis  Scott  Key  and 
Joseph  Rodman  Drake,  a  century  ago,  by  reason  of  that  bitter 
war  with  England,  sing  of  the  flag  as  if  it  were  chiefly  a  war 
flag.  Just  as  Key  names  "  the  rockets'  red  glare,"  "  the  bombs 
bursting  in  air,"  "  the  havoc  of  war,"  "  the  battle's  confusion," 
"the  blood  washing  out  their  foul  footsteps'  pollution."  "the 
terror  of  fright,"  "the  gleam  of  the  grave," — so  Drake,  "the 
lightning  lances  driven, "  "  the  thunder  drum  of  heaven,"  "  the 
sulphur  smoke,"  "the  battle  stroke,"  "the  life  blood  warm 
and  wet,"  "dimming  the  glistening  bayonet,"  "the  gory 
sabres,"  and  "  the  cannon  mouthings." 

In  Drake,  as  in  Key,  is  successful  rhythm,  vivid  imagery, 
and  impressiveness.  Just  now,  unhappily,  we  must  remember 
that  one  part  of  what  every  flag  may  signify,  even  though  it  is 
waving  over  a  schoolhouse,  is  brute  violence  as  an  argument 
that  must  be  used  when  nothing  else  will  do. 

What  our  flag  ought  to  stand  for,  what  some  new  poet 
needs  to  tell  eloquently  that  it  does  stand  for,  above  all  else,  is 
the  white  color  for  righteousness  in  every-day  life;  the  blue, 
for  faithfulness,  of  not  only  men,  but  loving  women,  in  busi- 
ness or  in  the  home ;  the  red,  for  a  spirit  of  sacrifice,  whether 
for  God  or  for  man. 

In  closing,  I  think  that  some  slight  vision  of  this  highest 
symbolism  of  the  American  flag  is  hinted  by  these  four  final 
lines  of  the  poet  whom  we  honor  to-day : 

"  Flag  of  the  free  hearts'  hope  and  home, 
By  angel  hands  to  valor  given," 

(valor,  bear  in  mind,  is  effort  for  any  good  cause) 

"  Thy  stars  have  lit  the  welkin  dome, 
And  all  thy  hues  were  born  in  heaven." 


13 

Dr.  MacCracken  was  followed  by  the  Hon.  Douglas 
Mathewson,  President  of  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx,  whose 
address  follows: 

THE  BRONX  OF  TODAY  AND  THE  LAND  IT  WAS 
A  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO 

Before  the  world's  first  artists  with  crude  materials  made 
pictures  that  other  men  could  see,  other  men  saw  pictures, 
colored  by  the  light  of  their  own  dreams,  that  none  could  see 
exactly  alike.  Art  has  improved.  With  better  materials, 
better  training  and  the  consequent  superior  technique,  the 
painter,  and  indeed,  the  mechanical  reproducer  of  scenes,  pre- 
sent to  the  eye  pictures  which  seem  to  tempt  one  into  the  un- 
rolling perspective  which  they  hold,  where  the  ancients  pre- 
sented drawing  in  but  one  plane.  Mental  pictures  still  are 
much  the  same.  They  differ,  perhaps,  to  everyone  who  con- 
jures them  into  being,  even  though  there  be  the  most  gifted 
attempt  to  portray  them  in  word  painting. 

So  it  must  be  with  us  as  we  endeavor  to  bring  within  the 
ken  of  our  mental  vision  the  fair  land  of  one  hundred  years 
ago  that  has  now  become  The  Bronx.  Where  teeming  thou- 
sands of  a  population  congested  in  many  places,  now  go  about 
their  multitudinous  ways  of  business  and  pleasure,  few  people 
then  inhabited  what  was  a  truly  rural  area.  What  Jonas 
Bronck,  nearly  two  centuries  before,  had  described  as  this 
beautiful  country,  the  land  covered  with  virgin  forest,  and  of 
unlimited  opportunities,  the  veritable  paradise  that  needed  but 
the  industrious  hand  of  man  to  make  it  the  finest  and  most 
beautiful  region  in  all  the  world,  had  received,  to  only  a  limited 
extent,  the  care  of  man.  But  as  there  still  may  be  seen  in  our 
parks  and  in  those  parts  of  the  Borough  to  which  we  may  still 
retire  from  the  haunts  where  men  do  most  congregate,  beau- 
tiful hillsides,  limpid  streams,  rolling  meadows,  glorious 
woods, — aye,  forests  almost  primeval,  so  a  hundred  years  ago 
could  Nature  in  all  her  loveliness  be  seen  all  over  our  broad 


H 

miles,  from  where  the  waters  of  the  Sound  rippled  on  the  east 
and  south,  to  where  the  Hudson  pursuing  its  course  to  the  sea, 
rolled  on  the  west. 

Men  had  arrived  in  but  limited  numbers;  life  was  more 
leisurely.  There  was  more  time  to  enjoy  and  appreciate  the 
beauties  and  the  healthfulness  and  the  content  that  was  every- 
where when  Nature  was  enjoying  her  calmer  moods.  When 
Nature  was  in  her  rougher  moods,  her  very  roughness  com- 
pelled men  to  appreciate  their  own  content  and  blessings  about 
the  firesides  of  the  big  old  houses,  if  they  would,  because  they 
would,  and  if  they  wouldn't,  because  they  couldn't  get  awa)^ 
Where  in  this  busy  workday  of  ours,  from  the  time  that  each 
returning  day  wakes  us  with  the  consciousness  that  we  must 
hastily  eat  a  morning  meal,  then  to  rush  away  and  be  hurtled, 
perhaps,  through  space,  or  perhaps  through  an  ill-smelling 
underground  cavern  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour,  to 
reach  some  objective  point,  maybe  fifteen  or  twenty  miles 
away  in  but  little  over  an  hour  after  we  have  risen, — then, 
the  inhabitant  of  our  land  rose  perhaps  earlier  in  the  morning 
than  we  do,  serene  and  confident  in  the  knowledge  that  there 
was  no  great  haste,  and  no  necessity  for  a  speed  which  it  is 
doubtful  if  he  ever  contemplated.  If  he  had  thought  of  it, 
he  who  lived  here  one  hundred  years  ago  v^ould  have  known 
that  he  was  a  long  journey  from  the  places  that  we  count  on 
reaching  in  sixty  minutes  or  thereabouts. 

There  was  no  crowding  in  all  these  forty  square  miles  that 
are  now  ours,— there  were  probably  not  over  175  families  with 
their  dependents.— and  withal  there  was  probably  not  more 
than  one  settlement  that  amounted  to  the  dignity  of  a  village. 
The  whistle  of  a  locomotive  had  no  more  been  heard  than 
had  the  clang  of  a  trolley  car.  But  three  means  of  locomotion 
were  possible:  by  one's  own  exertion,  through  the  propelling 
i)owcr  of  animals,  and  ov^r  the  water;  and  over  the  water, 
means  of  propulsion  other  than  by  human  exertion  or  the 
winds,  were  not  greatly  used.  Even  roads  were  but  few. 
\\  hc-n  the  traveler  from  lower  Manhattan  crossed  the  Coles 


15 

Bridge,  about  where  the  present  Third  Avenue  Bridge  stands, 
but  one  road  lay  before  him, — Coles  Road,  now  Third  Avenue. 
If  by  this  route  the  poet  Drake  was  proceeding  to  Hunt's 
Point,  he  must  have  proceeded  by  this  same  road  to  where 
now,  as  in  the  old  days,  Westchester  Avenue  branches  off  to 
the  right,  then  proceeded  along  that  avenue  to  the  old  road 
which  ran  from  West  Farms  to  Hunt's  Point,  and  then  turn- 
ing sharply  back,  taken  that  road  to  the  Leggett  home.  Partly 
over  this  same  route,  either  by  stage-coach  or  upon  steeds, 
the  traveler  to  Boston  went,  when  he  did  not  avail  himself 
of  the  somewhat  more  leisurely  but  perhaps  more  comfortable 
method,  of  water  craft,  which  favoring  breezes  sent  on  and 
unfavorable  winds  retarded  as  they  moved  along  the  waters 
of  Long  Island  Sound. 

The  Motts  had  not  yet  come  to  Mott  Haven ;  the  Lorillards 
had  not  come  to  West  Farms;  the  names  of  other  families 
destined  to  become  the  foremost  of  the  region,  its  leading 
citizens,  and  its  benefactors,  were  as  yet  unknown. 

To  him  who  in  the  love  of  Nature  would  hold  communion 
with  her  various  forms,  old  West  Farms  and  Westchester, 
and  indeed  Morrisania  and  Kingsbridge  must  have  presented 
alluring  charms.  The  place  was  full  of  natural  beauty  undis- 
turbed by  the  hand  of  man.  From  the  time  that  saffron-hued 
morn  appeared  in  the  east  until  the  azure  robe  of  night  spread 
over  everything,  every  hour,  indeed  every  minute,  to  the  ob- 
servant presented  some  new  combination  of  beauty, — new 
lights,  new  shades  never  seen  before  and  never  to  be  seen 
again. 

And  now  how  different  the  scene !  Where  then  were  quiet 
country  roads,  hoof  deep  with  dust  in  summer,  hub  deep  with 
mud  in  winter,  few  and  far  between,  are  the  broad  and  regular 
streets  of  a  great  city.     Where  then  in 

The  middle  watch  of  a  summer's  night; 

The  earth  was  dark  but  the  heavens  were  bright; 

where  glimmered  and  died  the  fire-fly's  spark,  and  the  stars 


i6 

on  the  moving  stream  flung,  as  his  ripples  gently  flowed,  a 
burnished  length  df  wavy  beam,  where  naught  was  heard  on 
the  lonely  hill  but  the  cricket's  chirp  and  the  answer  shrill  of 
the  gauze-winged  katydid  and  the  plaint  of  the  wailing  whip- 
poorwill,  now  in  the  middle  watches  of  every  night,  whether 
the  heavens  are  dark  or  bright,  far  flung  is  the  great  illumina- 
tion that  speaks  of  the  onward  march  of  man  in  the  building 
of  one  of  his  great  centers;  the  reflected  light  in  the  skies,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  efforts  of  man  is  so  great  as  to  darken  the 
light  of  the  stars  on  the  water;  the  crickets'  chirp  and  the  katy- 
did's answer  and  the  whipporwill's  plaint  have  been  succeeded 
by  the  crash  of  traffic  propelled  by  power  that  men  had  not 
then  dreamed  of.  Then  and  now,  what  mighty  changes  man 
and  man's  mind  and  man's  energy  have  wrought !  Yet  some 
things  change  but  little.  We  are  working  slowly  but  surely 
toward  the  same  ends.  We  still  have  appreciation  of  the 
beautiful  hampered  at  times,  perhaps,  by  that  utilitarian  spirit 
which  is  the  spirit  of  the  age.  We  still  have  that  spirit  of 
tolerance  and  breadth  which  has  seemed  innate  in  our  soil. 
We  are  still,  as  has  recently  been  said  by  a  distinguished  but 
somewhat  cynical  Englishman,  inhabitants  of  *'a  place  to 
which  the  fit  will  be  attracted  and  where  the  fit  will  survive;" 
where  efficiency  in  physical  essentials  no  less  than  efficiency 
in  mental  acquirements  is  inculcated;  where  the  vigor  of 
American  civilization  and  progress  is  strongly  evident ;  where 
the  Americanism  and  the  patriotism  that  is  Americanism  is 
being  disseminated  and  embraced  and  proclaimed;  where  art 
is  cherished  and  education  in  the  finer  things  valued;  a  com- 
munity which  as  it  points  with  pride  to  its  captains  of  industry, 
points  also  with  pride  to  men  who,  in  lives  long  or  brief,  have 
done  things  because  of  which  their  grateful  kind  have  in- 
scribed their  names  upon  the  scrolls  of  fame;  a  community 
which  will  never  fail  to  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  "The  Amer- 
ican Flag"  is  associated  with  its  soil  and  that  lying  within 
its  confines  is  all  that  remains  mortal  of  that  frail  young  frame 
which  housed  the  mind  that  wrote  those  verses  which  will  not 


17 

perish   while  American   Hterature   and   American   patriotism 
survive. 

The  next  speaker  was  Prof.  John  Erskine,  of  The  Depart- 
ment of  EngHsh  and  Comparative  Literature  in  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, whose  subject  was : 

DRAKE   AS   A   POET 

The  man  whose  memory  we  honor  today  would  not  care 
to  be  praised  above  his  merits.  He  knew  that  he  was  not  a 
great  poet,  and  if  we  in  a  moment  of  enthusiasm  should  call 
him  great,  we  have  but  to  read  his  Croaker  satires  to  remind 
ourselves  how  he  would  have  ridiculed  such  uncritical  patriot- 
ism. In  fact,  Drake  was  over  modest.  Before  his  death, 
when  all  his  poems  that  could  be  found  were  collected  and 
copied  by  Dr.  de  Kay,  Drake  told  his  friends  to  burn  the 
manuscripts,  since  they  were  valueless.  Among  the  poems 
that  he  would  have  burned  was  The  Culprit  Fay. 

It  is  but  just  to  Drake  to  begin  an  appreciation  of  his  work 
with  a  warning  against  overpraise.  At  his  death  in  1820  he 
was  but  twenty-five  years  old,  and  the  fact  of  his  youth,  taken 
with  the  other  facts  that  he  was  a  physician,  and  that  he  died 
of  consumption,  has  persuaded  some  critics  that  he  was  the 
American  Keats.  A  comparison  so  trying  makes  Drake  as 
well  as  his  admirers  seem  ridiculous.  If  on  his  deathbed  he 
would  have  destroyed  the  manuscript  of  The  Culprit  Fay,  it 
may  be  recalled  that  the  dying  Virgil  expressed  the  same  wish 
for  his  great  epic;  yet  even  the  enthusiastic  patriot  will  hesi- 
tate to  call  The  Culprit  Fay  the  American  Aeneid.  Drake 
was  a  very  minor  poet;  we  might  almost  say,  an  occasional 
poet;  the  man  was  better  than  anything  he  wrote.  It  is  to 
the  advantage  of  his  fame  that  while  paying  this  deserved 
tribute  to  his  memory,  we  should  not  measure  him  by  stand- 
ards he  never  pretended  to  meet. 

His    true    immortality    is    an    immortality    of    friendship. 


i8 

"None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee,  nor  named  thee  but  to 
praise,"  says  the  poet-friend  whose  name  is  inseparable  from 
his.  We  have  long  since  accepted  this  tender,  if  somewhat 
transparent,  estimate  of  Drake;  he  enjoys  a  clear  fame;  he  is 
a  crystalline  spirit.  What  he  owes  to  these  lines  of  Halleck's 
we  observe  when  we  reflect  how  earthly  in  comparison  seems 
Halleck's  memory,  who  was  a  far  abler  poet,  but  who  lacked 
a  poetic  epitaph  to  transfigure  him.  This  quality  of  Drake's 
fame— its  spirit-like  clearness—is  derived  in  part  at  least  from 
his  best  known  poem,  The  Culprit  Fay,  the  title  of  which,  even 
if  one  knows  no  more  of  it,  evokes  a  disembodied  world,  and 
the  felicity  of  which,  if  one  has  read  it,  seems  curiously  blood- 
less. But  all  that  we  can  recover  of  the  actual  Drake,  even 
without  the  testimony  of  this  poem,  bears  out  Halleck's  praise. 
Drake  was  essentially  a  youthful  poet,  a  poet  of  joy  and 
enthusiasm,  a  beauty-lover;  he  was  also,  what  many  young 
poets  have  not  been,  personally  admirable  and  loveable,  and 
he  had  much  common  sense.  He  was,  moreover,  typical  of 
American  poets  in  that  his  life,  though  short,  was  happy.  To 
appreciate  his  achievements  we  have  only  to  study  him  through 
the  eyes  of  his  admiring  friends  and  acquaintances. 

The  first  observation  that  should  be  made  of  his  work  is 
that,  though  he  wrote  verses  from  his  very  childhood,  he 
usually  wrote,  as  one  might  say,  accidentally  or  occasionally. 
It  fits  well  with  our  conception  of  him  as  an  untroubled  nature 
that  he  was  urged  to  write  by  no  unquenchable,  passionate 
flame.  His  poems  almost  always  were  suggested  or  stimu- 
lated by  some  social  encounter,  or  by  the  small  talk  of  friend- 
ship. If  it  is  true  that  his  earliest  composition,  at  the  age  of 
fivt,  was  a  versified  conundrum,  a  critic  who  looks  for  omens 
might  remark  that  conundrums  are  preeminently  sociable. 
The  Culprit  Fay,  as  we  have  often  been  told,  arose  out  of  a 
conversation  in  1816,  **in  which  Drake,  de  Kay,  Cooper,  the 
novelist,  and  Halleck,  were  speaking  of  the  Scottish  streams 
and  their  adaptation  to  the  uses  of  poetry  by  their  numerous 
romantic  associations.     Cooper  and  Halleck  maintained  that 


19 

our  own  rivers  furnished  no  such  capabiHties,  when  Drake,  as 
usual,  took  the  opposite  side  of  the  argument,  and,  to  make 
his  position  good,  produced  in  three  days  The  Culprit  Fay. 
The  scene  is  laid  in  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson,  but  it  is 
noticeable  that  the  chief  associations  conjured  up  relate  to  the 
salt  water,  the  poet  drawing  his  inspiration  from  his  familiar 
haunt  on  the  sound  at  Hunt's  Point."  This  is  Duyckinck's 
account;  and  Drake  himself  can  be  quoted  to  support  the 
theory  that  he  did  not  take  his  work  with  passionate  serious- 
ness, for  in  a  m'anuscript  of  ''  The  Culprit  Fay "  he  wrote, 
"The  reader  will  find  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  salt 
water  a  little  farther  up  the  Hudson  than  they  usually  travel, 
but  not  too  far  for  the  purposes  of  poetry." 

Next  to  this  poem,  Drake's  best  known  work  appeared  in 
The  Croakers,  the  series  of  satires  and  patriotic  verse  which 
he  and  Halleck  contibuted  to  "The  Evening  Post,"  in  1819. 
Halleck's  biography  tells  how  these  poems  started  from  a  bit 
of  nonsense.  "  Halleck  and  Drake  were  spending  a  Sunday 
morning  with  Dr.  William  Langstaff,  an  eccentric  apothecary 
and  an  accomplished  mineralogist,  with  whom  they  were  both 
intimate  .  .  .  when  Drake,  for  his  own  and  his  friend's 
amusement,  wrote  several  burlesque  stanzas  '  To  Ennui,'  Hal- 
leck answering  then  in  some  lines  on  the  same  subject.  The 
young  poets  decided  to  send  their  productions,  with  others  of 
a  similar  character,  to  William  Coleman,  the  editor  of  'The 
Evening  Post.'  If  he  published  them,  they  would  write  more; 
if  not,  they  would  offer  them  to  M.  M.  Noah,  of  the  '  National 
Advocate';  and  if  he  declined  their  poetical  progeny,  they 
would  light  their  pipes  with  them.  Drake  accordingly  sent 
Coleman  three  pieces  of  his  own,  signed  '  Croaker '  a  signature 
adopted  from  an  amusing  character  in  Goldsmith's  comedy  of 
'The  Good-natured  Man.'  To  their  astonishment,  a  para- 
graph appeared  in  the  '  Post '  the  day  following,  acknowledg- 
ing their  receipt,  promising  the  insertion  of  the  poems,  pro- 
nouncing them  to  be  the  products  of  superior  taste  and  genius, 
and  begging  the  honor  of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the 


20 

author.  The  lines  '  To  Ennui '  appeared  March  lo,  1819,  and 
the  others  in  almost  daily  succession;  those  written  by  Halleck 
being  sometimes  signed  'Croaker  Junior/  while  those  which 
were  their  joint  composition  generally  bore  the  signature  of 
' Croaker  &  Co/" 

The  best  known  of  Drake's  contributions  to  the  series  was 
"The  American  Flag,"  which  appeared  on  May  29.  In  the 
first  draft  the  poem  concluded  with  the  lines — 

As  fixed  as  yonder  orb  divine, 
That  saw  thy  bannered  blaze  unfurled, 

Shall  thy  proud  stars  resplendent  shine, 
The  guard  and  glory  of  the  world. 

But  not  satisfied  with  this  ending,  Drake  asked  Halleck  to 
suggest  a  substitute,  whereupon  Halleck  improvised  the  stanza 
now  chiefly  quoted  from  the  poem — 

Forever  float  that  standard  sheet ! 
Where  breathes  the  foe  but  falls  before  us, 
With  freedom's  soil  beneath  our  feet. 
And  freedom's  banner  streaming  o'er  us? 

Indeed,  many  of  the  Croaker  poems  were  the  result  of  col- 
laboration; we  are  told  that  either  poet  would  draft  the 
original  idea,  and  the  other  would  modify  it,  until  both  were 
satisfied.  It  was  essentially  a  social  muse  that  the  young  men 
cultivated,  and  we  must  think  it  was  a  happy  comradeship  as 
well  as  a  poetic  enthusiasm  which  made  Drake  one  day  lay 
his  cheek  down  upon  the  manuscript  and  exclaim  "  O,  Halleck, 
isn't  this  happiness ! " 

The  impression  that  Drake's  poetry  sprang  from  his  daily 
life  among  his  friends,  rather  than  from  an  inner  ambition, 
such  as  Keats  had,  to  be  a  poet,  is  borne  out  by  the  picture 
wc  get  of  him  in  the  New  York  society  of  his  time.  He  was 
a  handsome  young  doctor,  who  had  married  well,  and  would 
have  a  career  in  his  profession;  incidentally  he  was  a  poet. 
One  thinks  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  who  resembled  Drake 
in  more  than  one  respect— in  his  wit,  his  delicacy  of  taste,  his 
social  gift,  his  lovablencss.     The  affectionate  regard  in  which 


he  was  held  in  the  various  New  York  homes  where  with  Hal- 
leck  he  was  a  welcome  visitor,  is  reflected  in  all  of  Halleck's 
accounts  of  those  days;  but  the  best  sketch  of  Drake  occurs 
in  a  letter  from  Halleck  to  his  sister  in  1817;  "I  send  you 
herewith  two  manuscript  poems,  written  by  a  friend  of  mine,. 
Mr.  Drake,  whose  name,  I  believe,  I  once  mentioned  to  you. 
He  is  a  young  physician,  about  twenty.  *'''  The  Culprit  Fay  " 
was  written,  begun,  and  finished  in  three  days.  The  copy  you 
have  is  from  the  original,  without  the  least  alteration.  It  is 
certainly  the  best  thing  of  its  kind  in  the  English  language, 
and  is  more  strikingly  original  than  I  had  supposed  it  possible 
for  a  modern  poem  to  be.  The  other  "  Lines  "  were  written 
to  a  lady,  after  an  evening's  ramble  near  a  river,  on  whose 
opposite  bank  a  band  of  music  was  playing.  'Tis  a  hackneyed 
subject,  but  he  has  given  it  beauty  and  novelty.  .  .  .  The  poem 
was  written  in  August  last,  since  which  its  author  has  married, 
and,  as  his  wife's  father  is  rich,  I  imagine  he  will  write  no 
more.  He  was  poor,  as  poets,  of  course,  always  are,  and 
offered  himself  a  sacrifice  at  the  shrine  of  Hymen  to  shun  the 
*  pains  and  penalties '  of  poverty.  I  officiated  as  groomsman, 
though  much  against  my  will.  His  wife  is  good-natured,  and 
loves  him  to  distraction.  He  is,  perhaps,  the  handsomest  man 
in  New  York." 

This  is  Drake  as  his  best  friends  knew  him.  His  limitations 
are  so  obvious  in  the  picture,  as  well  as  his  attractive  quaHties, 
that  he  ought  to  have  been  spared  the  doubtful  compliment  of 
comparison  with  Keats  or  any  other  giant  of  poesy.  Had  he 
lived  a  few  years  earlier  or  later,  when  vital  ideas  of  different 
kinds  were  stirring  in  American  literature,  he  might  have  felt 
as  deeply  as  any  of  the  young  English  poets,  and  might  have 
used  his  genius  as  an  instrument  for  some  large  purpose,  but  he 
came  to  young  manhood  at  a  moment  of  pause,  when  litera- 
ture, at  least  in  New  York  was  merely  an  accomplishment, 
and  when  there  was  no  great  example  of  complete  devotion  to 
a  life  of  letters.  An  exception  need  not  be  made  of  Words- 
worth, whose  consecrated  work  had  not  then  found  the  vast 


22 


audience  it  now  has  in  America.  To  Drake  contemporary 
English  poetry  meant  Campbell  and  Scott  and  Byron,  gentle- 
manly poets,  who  had  much  business  in  the  world  besides  writ- 
ing. In  1816,  when  The  Culprit  Fay  was  composed,  Keats 
had  not  yet  published,  and  Shelley  had  published,  besides  his 
juvenilia,  only  Queen  Mob  and  Alastor.  Drake  had  before 
him,  as  possible  models,  Campbell's  Gertrude  of  Wyoming, 
Scott's  various  longer  poems,  Byron's  Childe  Harold,  and  his 
oriental  tales.  In  all  of  these  works  the  scene  and  the  plot 
counted  for  more  than  the  idea;  if  the  poet  expressed  himself 
also,  as  Byron  certainly  did,  it  was  his  personality,  his  mood, 
rather  than  his  ideas,  that  got  expressed.  The  distinction  may 
not  at  first  be  evident,  but  we  recognize  in  a  broad  way  a  dif- 
ference between  such  poets  as  Milton  or  Shelley  or  Emerson 
or  Whitman,  who  use  poetry  to  express  their  profound  con- 
victions, and  those  poets  who  write  chiefly  for  amusement,  to 
entertain  themselves  or  their  readers,  without  much  wish  to 
mold  opinion  on  any  subject.  Drake  was  a  poet  of  this  second 
kind.  But  even  within  the  kind  there  are  differences ;  Keats, 
for  example,  loved  beauty  with  such  intensity  that  his  worship 
of  it  seems  almost  to  be  a  kind  of  propaganda;  he  seems  as 
much  a  preacher  as  Shelley,  though  with  a  different  subject 
matter.  Drake,  obviously,  had  no  such  passion.  His  tem- 
perament was  somewhat  like  Scott's  or  Campbell's,  perhaps 
like  Thomas  Moore's ;  he  did  not  live  for  poetry,  but  he  prac- 
tised the  art  as  an  accomplishment,  and  had  he  lived,  he  might 
have  raised  the  accomplishment  to  a  noble  importance. 

To  speculate  on  what  Drake  might  have  written  had  he  been 
spared,  helps  us  to  place  him  in  the  history  of  our  literature. 
Fcnimore  Cooper  was  one  of  the  friends  out  of  whose  con- 
versation grew  The  Culprit  Fay.  The  future  novelist  was 
then  visiting  in  the  city,  for  in  1816  he  had  temporarily  left 
Westchester  and  had  move  his  home  back  to  Cooperstown. 
As  yet  he  had  no  thought  of  writing.  In  the  famous  conversa- 
tion he  and  Halleck  contended  that  the  American  rivers  could 
not  be  made  the  subject  of  romance,  as  the  Scotch  rivers  had 


23 

been  made  by  Burns  and  Scott.  That  Drake  should  have  held 
the  other  view  shows  not  only  his  patriotism  but  his  good 
judgment.  He  did  not  celebrate  the  Hudson,  after  all,  in  The 
Culprit  Fay; — he  did  not  take  his  own  experiment  seriously 
enough;  but  at  least  he  made  the  attempt,  before  Irving  suc- 
ceeded, to  endow  the  river  and  its  landscape  with  romance. 
We  may  well  suppose  that  the  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow  and 
Rip  Van  Winkle  were  easier  to  create  after  Drake's  poem  was 
written  and  circulated  among  his  friends.  That  Cooper 
should  have  argued  against  the  suitability  of  our  landscape  for 
romantic  treatment  is  at  first  astounding,  since  his  prose  was 
shortly  to  endow  that  landscape  with  more  romance  than  any 
American  verse  ever  conferred  on  it.  But  Cooper  was  slower 
than  Drake  to  see  the  possibilities,  for  American  art;  his  first 
novel,  Precaution,  was  deHberately  English,  and  it  was  only 
the  remonstrances  of  his  friends,  as  he  tells  us,  that  turned 
him  in  his  second  book  to  an  American  subject.  Were  not 
these  remonstrances  aided  at  least  by  the  reputation  of  what 
Drake's  poem  had  tried  to  do?  Would  the  American  forests 
and  lakes  have  been  so  magically  portrayed  in  the  Deerslayer 
and  in  the  Last  of  the  Mohicans,  if  Drake's  fairy  poem  had 
not  come  first?  These  questions  cannot  be  answered,  but  to 
ask  them  is  a  recognition  of  Drake's  leadership  in  a  field  where 
his  great  successors,  his  friends  Irving  and  Cooper,  have  en- 
joyed most  of  the  fame. 

When  we  read  the  lines  in  which  he  expressed  the  hope  that 
the  American  scene  would  create  its  own  poetry,  we  think  how 
many  of  his  countrymen  since  have  dreamt  of  a  native  world, 
no  longer  seen  through  the  glass  of  European  traditions.  The 
emancipation  that  Emerson  and  Whitman  proclaimed  and  pro- 
moted, is  heralded  in  these  words  of  Drake's — 

Are  there  no  scenes  to  touch  the  poet's  soul? 
No  deeds  of  arms  to  wake  the  lordly  strain? 
Shall  Hudson's  billows  unregarded  roll? 
Has  Warren,  has  Montgomery  died  in  vain? 
Shame!  that  while  every  mountain  stream  and  plain 
Hath  theme  for  truth's  proud  voice  or  fancy's  wand, 


24 

No  native  bard  the  patient  harp  hath  ta'en, 

But  left  to  minstrels  of  a  foreign  strand 

To  sing  the  beauteous  scenes  of  nature's  loveliest  land. 

'Tis  true  no  fairies  haunt  our  verdant  meads, 

No  grinning  imps  deform  our  blazing  hearth; 

Beneath  the  Kelpie's  fang  no  traveler  bleeds, 

Nor  gory  vampire  taints  our  holy  earth, 

No  spectres  stalk  to  frighten  harmless  mirth. 

Nor  tortured  demon  howls  adown  the  gale; 

Fair  reason  checks  these  monsters  in  their  birth 

Yet  have  we  lay  of  love  and  horrid  tale 

Would  dim  the  manliest  eye,  and  make  the  bravest  pale. 

Romantic  Wyoming!  could  none  be  found 

Of  all  that  rove  thy  Eden  groves  among, 

To  wake  a  native  harp's  untutored  sound. 

And  give  thy  tale  of  woe  the  voice  of  song? 

Oh  I  if  description's  cold  and  nerveless  tongue 

From  stranger  harps  such  hallowed  strains  could  call, 

How  doubly  sweet  the  descant  wild  had  rung, 

From  one  who,  lingering  round  thy  ruined  wall. 

Had  plucked  thy  mourning  flowers  and  wept  thy  timeless  fall. 

The  Huron  chief,  escaped  from  foemen  nigh. 

His  frail  bark  launches  on  Niagara's  tides, 

"  Pride  in  his  port,  defiance  in  his  eye," 

Singing  his  song  of  death  the  warrior  glides; 

In  vain  they  yell  along  the  river  sides. 

In  vain  the  arrow  from  its  sheaf  is  torn, 

Calm  to  his  doom  the  willing  victim  rides, 

And,  till  adown  the  roaring  torrent  borne, 

Mocks  them  with  gesture  proud,  and  laughs  their  rage  to  scorn. 

But  if  the  charms  of  daisied  hill  and  vale, 

And  rolling  flood,  and  towering  rock  sublime. 

If  warrior  deed  or  peasant's  lowly  tale 

Of  love  or  woe  should  fail  to  wake  the  rhyme. 

If  to  the  wildest  heights  of  song  you  climb, 

(Tho*  some  who  know  you  less,  might  cry,  beware!) 

Onward!     I  say— your  strains  shall  conquer  time; 

Give  your  bright  genius  wing,  and  hope  to  share  ' 

Imagination's  worlds— the  ocean,  earth,  and  air. 

When  we  read  this  stirring  advice  to  the  American  muse,  we 
think  what  Drake  mij^du  liave  done  had  he  lived  a  few  years 


25 

longer,  when  Irving  had  invested  the  Hudson  with  romance,  and 
Cooper  had  made  our  landscape  part  of  the  literary  inheritance 
of  the  world.  Our  prose-writers  have  interpreted  our  visible 
country,  and  have  invested  certain  spots  with  imagination  so 
that  to  visit  them  is  to  come  under  a  spell;  but  our  verse 
writers,  for  the  most  part,  have  occupied  themselves  with 
moral  and  philosophical  ideas.  Drake  might  have  been  the 
exception.  In  his  short  career  he  revealed  no  remarkable 
genius ;  he  had  no  prophetic  message  for  a  chosen  few ;  he  had 
none  of  those  estranging  gifts  that  set  the  great  poets  apart. 
But  he  had  the  gift  of  lovableness,  and  he  saw  the  poetic 
possibilities  in  the  daily  world  around  him,  in  the  conversation 
of  his  friends  and  in  the  familiar  landscape.  The  beauty  that 
he  uncovered  for  us  in  the  old  town  of  New  York,  now  in 
the  press  of  the  vast  city  seems  a  fragile  thing;  but  it  has  not 
died.  Today  as  we  remember  him  we  are  aware  of  its  fine 
enchantment. 

Next  came  a  scholarly  paper  by  Dean  Archibald  L.  Bouton 
of  the  College  of  Arts  and  Pure  Science  of  New  York  Uni- 
versity, whose  subject  was : 

THE  CULPRIT  FAY:  A  CRITICISM. 

From  today  we  go  back  ninety-nine  years  to  the  time  when 
in  1816  Drake  wrote  The  Culprit  Fay.  In  the  same  year  the 
"  North  American  Review "  published  Thanatopsis.  This 
double  beginning  of  a  new  American  poetry  looked  in  two 
directions.  Long  ago  Thomas  the  Rymer  wrote  of  two  great 
highways  of  poetry: 

O  see  ye  not  yon  narrow  road 

So  thick  beset  with  thorn  and  brier? 
That  is  the  Path  of  Righteousness, 

Though  after  it  but  few  enquire. 

And  see  ye  not  that  bonny  road 

That  winds  about  yon  fernie  brae? 
That  is  the  road  to  fair  Elf-land 

Where  you  and  I  this  night  maun  gae. 


26 

Out  upon  the  one  path  Bryant  led  the  way  for  the  new  poetry 
of  America;  down  the  other,  toward  the  way  of  Glamour, 
Drake  started  when  he  wrote  The  Culprit  Fay. 

In  point  of  length,  in  the  novelty  of  its  material,  in  the  ambi- 
tion of  its  design,  The  Culprit  Fay  is  Drake's  most  conspicuous 
poem.  It  is  probably  the  earliest  native  poem  of  distinct 
length  to  attain  anything  like  a  general  popularity  in  America. 
The  facts  about  the  composition  of  the  poem  are  tolerably 
certain,  though  it  is  interesting  at  such  an  occasion  as  this  to 
offer  one  or  two  minor  corrections  of  the  legendary  account. 
The  poem,  I  have  said,  was  written  in  1816.  Halleck  fixes 
the  date  by  his  endorsement  of  a  manuscript  copy  of  the  poem 
which  he  enclosed  in  a  letter  to  his  sister  written  January  29, 
181 7.  "The  following  lines  were  written  by  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake  in  New  York  in  August  181 6,  and  copied  from  the 
author's  manuscript  in  January  181 7  by  FitzGreene  Halleck." 
The  fact  that  such  men  as  Willis,  Poe,  Griswold,  and  Duyck- 
inck,  in  writings  still  readily  accessible,  give  the  date  of  com- 
position as  1819,  makes  the  repetition  of  Halleck  on  this  point 
worth  while. 

Drake's  motive  for  literature  was  not  commercial.  Singu- 
larly enough,  the  poem  existed  and  was  circulated  in  manu- 
script only  for  many  years  even  after  Drake's  death  in  1820. 
In  an  issue  of  the  "Weekly  Mirror"  published  in  this  city 
in  1828,*  William  Leggett,  in  a  paper  on  Halleck,  speaks  of 
Drake's  Culprit  Fay  as  "  withheld  from  the  public."  Early 
in  1835  Nathaniel  Parker  Willis,  at  the  time  an  attache  with 
the  Paris  Legation,  published  a  series  of  four  papers  on  con- 
temporary American  literature  in  the  "Athenaeum"  of  Lon- 
don. In  the  third  of  these  papers,  published  February  7th, 
Willis  gives  the  chief  place  to  Drake,  and  publishes  a  para- 
phrase of  the  poem  with  selections  amounting  to  356  lines  of 
the  640  in  the  original.  Willis  states  that  the  poem  had  never 
been  published,  and  we  have  Halleck's  word  to  General  James 

>  The  Weekly  Mirror,  January  26,  1828. 


27 

Grant  Wilson  that  this  was  the  first  pubH cation  of  any  sub- 
stantial part  of  The  Culprit  Fay.^ 

Many  manuscript  copies  were  in  circulation^  however. 
Drake  himself  is  said  to  have  made  as  many  as  six  copies  for 
friends.  No  collation  of  these  has,  I  believe,  ever  been  at- 
tempted. In  a  manuscript  letter  written  by  W.  I.  Paulding  to 
E.  A.  Duyckinck,  January  22,  1868,  and  preserved  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library,  Paulding  quotes  Mr.  C.  Graham 
Tillou,  Drake's  nephew,  as  saying  '*"  The  Culprit  Fay  has  never 
been  published  as  written  by  Drake. "^  In  the  circumstances 
Tillou  can  hardly  have  meant  more  than  that  not  all  of 
Drake's  versions  are  alike.  In  the  "Athenaeum"  Willis  re- 
marks that  "great  numbers  of  manuscripts  are  abroad,  and 
with  every  new  copy  it  is  .  .  .  becoming  more  and  more 
mangled  and  incorrect."  This  fact  no  doubt  contributed  to 
the  motive  which  led  Mrs.  De  Kay,  Drake's  daughter,  to  pub- 
lish through  Dearborn,  in  New  York  in  1835,  the  thin  and 
beautiful  volume  which  contains  the  first  complete  and  authori- 
tative edition  of  The  Culprit  Fay,  together  with  such  other 
poems  as  she  cared  to  include  in  this  permanent  record.  This 
edition  established  the  text  of  the  poem. 

What  is  the  theme  of  the  poem?  It  is  the  story  of  the  ex- 
piation by  a  fairy  ouphe  of  the  crime  of  loving  a  mortal 
maiden.  The  scene  is  laid  in  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson, 
not  far  from  West  Point. 

'Tis  the  middle  watch  of  a  summer's  night 
The  earth  is  dark  but  the  heavens  are  bright; 

The  moon  looks  down  on  old  Cronest. 

The  monarch  of  the  Elfs  has  summoned  his  court  for  trial  of 
the  Culprit  Ouphe  for  the  capital  offence  of  loving  an  earthly 

2  Century  Magazine,  80 :  439. 

3  I  wish  here  to  acknowledge  the  help  in  obtaining  material  for  the 
preparation  of  this  article  rendered  by  Hon.  Victor  H.  Paltsifs,  Keeper  of 
MSS.  in  the  New  York  Public  Library.  This  occasion  is  in  many  of  its 
aspects  a  testimonial  to  his  deep  interest  in  Drake. 


28 

maid.  The  sentence  usually  imposed  for  the  offence  is  read 
to  the  criminal : 

Tied  to  the  hornet's  shardy  wings ; 

Tossed  on  the  pricks  of  nettles'  stings ; 

Or  seven  long  ages  doomed  to  dwell 

With  the  lazy  worm  in  the  walnut-shell; 

Or  every  night  to  writhe  and  bleed 

Beneath  the  tread  of  the  centipede; 

Or  bound  in  a  cobweb  dungeon  dim, 

Your  jailer  a  spider  huge  and  grim, 

Amid  the  carrion  bodies  to  lie, 

Of  the  worm,  and  the  bug,  and  the  murdered  fly: 

These  it  had  been  your  lot  to  bear. 

Had  a  stain  been  found  on  the  earthly  fair. 

In  consideration  of  the  "sinless  mind"  of  the  maiden,  the 
penalty  is  softened;  and  a  pardon  is  granted  upon  two  condi- 
tions. The  offending  sprite  must  first  capture  a  drop  of  water 
as  it  is  flung  from  the  sturgeon  in  his  graceful  leap  in  the 
moonlit  sea ;  this  will  cleanse  the  assoiling  of  his  wings.  Next 
he  must  watch  in  the  heavens  for  a  shooting  star,  and  pursue 
its  flight  until  he  can  capture  the  last  spark  sprayed  forth  in  its 
gleaming  flight ;  this  spark  alone  can  rekindle  his  extinguished 
torch. 

The  goblin  marked  his  monarch  well. 

He  spake  not,  but  he  bowed  him  low. 
Then  plucked  a  crimson  colen-bell. 

And  turned  him  round  in  act  to  go. 
The  way  is  long,  he  cannot  fly. 

His  soiled  wing  has  lost  its  power, 
And  he  winds  adown  the  mountain  high, 

For  many  a  sore  and  weary  hour. 
Through  dreary  beds  of  tangled  fern, 
Through  groves  of  nightshade  dark  and  dern, 
Over  the  grass  and  through  the  brake. 
Where  toils  the  ant  and  sleeps  the  snake; 

For  rugged  and  dim  was  his  onward  track, 
But  there  came  a  spotted  toad  in  sight. 

And  he  laughed  as  he  jumped  upon  her  back; 
He  bridled  her  mouth  with  a  silk-weed  twist; 

He  lashed  her  side  with  an  osier  thong; 
And  now  through  evening's  dewy  mist, 

With  leap  and  spring  they  bound  along. 


29 

Coming  at  last  to  the  brink  of  the  stream  that  is  the  home 
of  the  sturgeon,  he  plunges  in.  Straightway  the  denizens 
of  the  river  spring  up  to  defend  their  realm  against  the  invad- 
ing Fay.     Against  him — 

Their  warriors  come  in  swift  career 
and  hem  him  round  on  every  side; 
On  his  thigh  the  leech  has  fixed  his  hold, 
And  quarl's  long  arms  are  round  him  roll'd, 
The  prickly  prong  has  pierced  his  skin, 
And  the  squab  has  thrown  his  javelin, 
The  gritty  star  has  rubbed  him  raw, 
And  the  crab  has  struck  with  his  giant  claw; 
He  howls  with  rage,  and  he  shrieks  with  pain, 
He  strikes  around,  but  his  blows  are  vain ; 
Hopeless  is  the  unequal  fight, 
Fairy !  naught  is  left  but  flight. 

Fleeing  back  to  the  land  again,  gashed  and  v^ounded,  he  lay 
down,  and  looking  behind 

...  he  saw  around  in  the  sweet  moonshine. 
Their  little  wee  faces  above  the  brine. 
Giggling  and  laughing  with  all  their  might 
At  the  piteous  hap  of  the  Fairy  wight. 

Reviving  at  length,  he  spies  a  purple  mussel  shell  of  which  he 
makes  him  a  boat  with  an  oar  of  a  bootle  blade.  In  the  boat, 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  river  imps,  who  are  powerless  above 
the  surface  of  the  river,  he  sails  on  till  he  finds  the  brown- 
backed  sturgeon.     Then 

...  he  skulled  with  all  his  might  and  main. 
And  followed  wherever  the  sturgeon  led. 
Till  he  saw  him  upward  point  his  head; 

With  sweeping  tail  and  quivering  fin. 

Through  the  wave  the  sturgeon  flew, 
And,  like  the  heaven-shot  javelin, 

He  sprung  above  the  waters  blue. 
Instant  as  the  star-fall  light. 

He  plunged  him  in  the  deep  again, 
But  left  an  arch  of  silver  bright 

The  rainbow  of  the  moony  main. 


30 


A  moment  and  its  lustre  fell, 

But  ere  it  met  the  billow  blue, 
He  caught  within  his  crimson  bell, 

A  droplet  of  its  sparkling  dew- 
Joy  to  thee,  Fay  I  thy  task  is  done. 
Thy  wings  are  pure,  for  the  gem  is  won— 
Cheerly  ply  thy  dripping  oar. 
And  haste  away  to  the  elfin  shore. 

The  first  quest  of  the  Culprit  Fay  is  ended. 

The  cricket  calls  the  second  hour  of  the  night  as  the  Fairy 
starts  heaven- ward,  with  wings  now  unstained,  on  his  second 
quest — that  of  the  fiery  spark  with  which  alone  he  can  re- 
illumine  his  flame-wood  lamp.  Donning  his  accoutrements 
for  his  second  great  adventure  the  Fay  sets  forth  astride  of 
a  fire-fly  steed. 

Up  to  the  vaulted  firmament 
His  path  the  fire-fly  courser  bent, 
And  at  every  gallop  on  the  wind, 
He  flung  a  glittering  spark  behind ; 

Through  cold  and  drizzly  mist,  storm  and  darkness,  evading 
shadowy  hands  that  twitch  at  his  rein,  and  flame-shot  tongues 
and  fiendish  eyes,  he  valiantly  plunges  onward,  with  his  bent 
grass  blade  in  action,  until  he  arrives  at  the  milky-way  and  the 
home  of  the  sylph  queen. 

But  oh !  how  fair  the  shape  that  lay 

Beneath  a  rainbow  bending  bright. 
She  seemed  to  the  entranced  Fay 

The  loveliest  of  the  forms  of  light; 
Her  mantle  was  the  purple  rolled 

At  twilight  in  the  west  afar ; 
Twas  tied  with  threads  of  dawning  gold, 

And  buttoned  with  a  sparkling  star. 
Her  face  was  like  the  lily  roon 

That  veils  the  vestal  planet's  hue; 
Her  eyes,  two  beamlets  from  the  moon, 

Set  floating  in  the  welkin  blue. 
Her  hair  is  like  the  sunny  beam, 
And   the  diamond  gems  which  round  it  gleam 
Arc  the  pure  drops  of  dewy  even 
That  ne'er  have  left  their  native  heaven. 


31 

The  elf  awakens  the  love  of  the  sylph  queen  and  she  begs  him 
to  give  up  his  quest  and  dwell  forever  with  her ;  with  her  "  to 
hang  upon  the  rainbow's  brim,"  "to  dance  upon  the  orbed 
moon,"  to  "  rest  on  Orion's  starry  belt." 

She  was  lovely  and  fair  to  see, 
And  the  elfin's  heart  beat  fitfully: 

but  here  the  remembrance  of  his  earthly  love  keeps  him  true. 

"  Lady,"  he  cried,  "  I  have  sworn  to-night, 

On  the  word  of  a  fairy  knight. 

To  do  my  sentence-task  aright; 

My  honour  scarce  is  free  from  stain, 

I  may  not  soil  its  snows  again ; 

Betide  me  weal,  betide  me  wo, 

Its  mandate  must  be  answered  now." 

Right  generously  then  the  sylph  queen  aids  him  in  his 
further  quest.  She  gives  a  fiend-proof  sable  car,  and  he 
speeds  away  till  he  finds  the  place  of  the  falling  star  and  at 
last  catches  a  glimmering  spark  with  which  he  re-illumines 
his  fairy  lamp.  Then  he  turns  abruptly  to  the  long  downward 
gallop  to  earth  and 

.  .  .  wheeled  around  to  the  fairy  ground. 
And  sped  through  the  midnight  dark. 

The  poem"  closes  with  a  roundelay  chorus  by  all  the  fairies : 

Ouphe  and  goblin !  imp  and  sprite ! 

Elf  of  eve!  and  starry  Fay! 
Ye  that  love  the  moon's  soft  light. 

Hither,  hither  wend  your  way; 
Twine  ye  in  a  jocund  ring. 

Sing  and  trip  it  merrily. 
Hand  to  hand,  and  wing  to  wing, 

Round  the  wild  witch-hazel  tree. 

Hail  the  wanderer  again 

With  dance  and  song,  and  lute  and  lyre, 
Pure  his  wing  and  strong  his  chain, 

And  doubly  bright  his  fairy  fire. 
Twine  ye  in  an  airy  round, 

Brush  the  dew  and  print  the  lea; 
Skip  and  gambol,  hop  and  bound, 

Round  the  wild  witch-hazel  tree. 


32 


This  paraphrase  has  served  two  purposes;  it  has  given  the 
story,  and  it  has  revealed  to  you  something  of  the  quality  of 
the  poem.  Contemporary  criticism  of  the  work,  seldom  very 
well  balanced,  ran  in  general  to  consummate  laudation.  Hal- 
leck  said  of  it :  "  It  is  certainly  the  best  thing  of  the  kind  in 
the  English  language,  and  is  more  strikingly  original  than-  T 
had  supposed  it  possible  for  a  modern  poem  to  be."  But  that 
was  the  language  of  enthusiastic  friendship.  Knowledge  of 
this  poem  as  well  as  of  the  "  Croaker  "  poems  may  have  been 
in  the  mind  of  Coleman,  ihe  editor  of  the  ''  Evening  Post " 
when  he  exclaimed  on  meeting  Drake  and  Halleck,  "  My  God ! 
I  had  no  idea  that  we  had  such  talents  in  America ! "  The 
writer  of  a  criticism  in  the  "  American  Monthly  Review  "  for 
September,  1835,  comments  upon  the  newly  published  poem 
more  specifically;  but  with  hardly  less  glowing  emotions :  "  For 
luxuriance  -of  fancy,  for  delicacy  of  expression,  for  glowing 
imagery,  and  for  poetic  truth,  it  is  rivalled  by  no  poem  that  has 
appeared  upon  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Our  author  .  .  . 
studied  nature — studied  her  not  as  she  appeared  in  books  .  .  . 
he  studied  her  in  her  own  virgin  retreats,  by  the  mighty  rivers 
and  mossy  forests  of  his  own  fresh  land.  ...  Its  whole 
atmosphere  is  American.  It  is  a  fairy  tale  of  our  clime,  and 
its  imagery  and  accessories  are  applicable  to  no  other  beneath 
the  sun."  H.  L.  Tuckerman  is  said  to  have  declared  that  The 
Culprit  Fay  is  superior  to  any  "  fanciful  poem  "  by  Moore  or 
Shelley.*     Some  called  Drake  the  American  Keats. 

In  much  of  this  comment  it  is  easy  to  see  the  habit  of  ex- 
uberant and  assertive  over-praise  which  America  has  not  even 
yet  outgrown.  It  is  a  fault  of  youth  which  has  not  yet  learned 
to  measure  its  freedom.  Not  many  years  before  The  Culprit 
Fay  was  published,  the  "Quarterly"  had  made  its  famous  re- 
mark "Who  reads  an  American  book?"  And  the  next  gen- 
eration of  American  critics  rallied  resentfully  to  the  defence 
of  every  new  American  book,  for  the  most  part  not  wisely  but 


33 

too  well.  The  Culprit  Fay  has  obviously  suffered  from  an 
inherited  tradition  of  over-praise.  It  is  easy  to  find  echoes  of 
Scott  and  Moore,  and  perhaps  of  Shelley,  conceivably  even  of 
Keats,  in  The  Culprit  Fay,  but  the  echoes  are  far  more  from 
the  minor  -matters  of  theme  and  intention,  and  the  lesser 
matters  of  the  line,  than  from  the  major  matters  of  treatment 
and  of  appeal.  We  do  better  for  The  Culprit  Fay  when  we 
do  not  urge  these  fatal  judicial  comparisons. 

The  ambition  to  aid  in  building  an  American  fairy  lore  was 
certainly  in  Drake's  mind.  Legend,  however,  has  done  its 
work  here.  Practically  every  one  who  has  written  about  The 
Culprit  Fay  since  Griswold — and  this  includes  the  Duyckincks, 
R.  H.  Stoddard,  General  Wilson  and  Francis  R.  Tillou, 
Drake's  brother-in-law — records  a  charming  moonlight  meet- 
ing of  friends  at  Cold  Spring  in  the  Hudson  Highlands  in 
1816,  at  which  Drake,  the  novelist  Cooper,  De  Kay,  Halleck, 
and  Charles  Fenno  Hoffman  were  discussing  the  power  of 
scenery  to  impress  the  imagination.  Cooper  and  Halleck 
claimed  for  the  Scottish  Highlands  supreme  power  to  inspire 
the  poet  and  the  novelist;  and  they  lamented  that  American 
scenery  could  not  similarly  inspire  the  man  of  letters.  That 
night,  before  morning,  the  legend  runs,  Drake  wrote  The 
Culprit  Fay,  as  a  reply;  and  in  three  days  had  perfected  the 
poem. 

The  legend  seems  not  supported  by  facts.  In  the  Halleck 
correspondence,  preserved  in  the  New  York  Public  Library, 
is  an  unpublished  letter  from  Halleck  to  E.  A.  Duyckinck, 
dated  May  13,  1866,  evidently  relating  to  the  revision  of  this 
paragraph  for  a  new  edition  of  the  Cyclopedia  of  American 
Literature.  It  reads:  *' In  acknowledgment  of  the  compli- 
ment you  are  paying  to  the  writings  of  Dr.  Drake  and  myself, 
I  have  looked  over  the  proof  sheets  you  sent  me  some  years 
ago,  which  I  have  kept  subject  to  your  order,  and  hand  you 
herewith  two  extracts  for  the  purpose  of  explanation,"  The 
second  of  these  extracts  concerns  The  Culprit  Fay.  ''The 
Culprit  Fay  was  written  in  1816,"  it  runs,  "  DeKay  was  then 
in  Europe.     Drake  was  never  acquainted  with  Cooper.     The 


34 

whole  paragraph  is  a  fiction."  The  revised  Cyclopedia  went 
to  press  a  year  before  Halleck  returned  his  proof,  and  the  cor- 
rection was  never  made.  Halleck  had  long  before  borne  testi- 
mony, in  the  letter  to  his  sister  in  January,  1817,  that  Drake 
wrote  the  poem  in  New  York,  and  that  it  was  completed  m 

three  days.' 

There  is  however  essential,  if  not  literal,  truth  in  the  story. 
Like  Charles  Brockden  Brown,  like  Irving,  like  the  Cooper  of 
the  Deerslayer  stories,  Drake  did  seek  literary  values  in  Amer- 
ican scenes.  Is  there  nothing  in  America,  he  asks  in  his  poem 
addressed  to  Halleck,  "  to  touch  the  poet's  soul "  ? 

No  deeds  of  arms  to  wake  the  lordly  strain? 
Shall  Hudson's  billows  unregarded  roll? 

Shame  1  that  while  every  mountain  stream  and  plain 
Hath  theme  for  truth's  proud  voice  or  fancy's  wand, 
No  native  bard  the  patriot  harp  hath  ta'en." 

The  laudation  of  Drake's  contemporaries  constantly  pro- 
claimed that  the  poem  was  "American";  that  through  this 
masterpiece,  the  Hudson  had  now  taken  its  place  among  the 
storied  rivers  of  the  world.  The  scene  of  the  poem,  it  is  true, 
is  local;  the  materials  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  from  which 
so  much  of  the  fabric  of  the  poem  is  made,  were  to  be  found 
in  or  by  the  Hudson ;  or  else  they  swarm  in  the  salt  waters 
off  Hunt's  Point.  Drake's  use  of  these  materials  sufficiently 
testifies  to  his  love  for  nature,  and  the  accuracy  of  his  ob- 
servations in  local  natural  history;  my  biological  friends  say 
that  it  is  all  quite  impeccable  save  for  the  typical  circumstance 
that  only  a  poet  could  people  the  Hudson  at  West  Point  with 
star-fish  and  porpoises.  These,  however,  are  particulars,  it  is 
fair  to  say,  concerning  which  Drake  requested  the  poet's  proper 
privilege,  *'  the  willing  suspension  of  his  reader's  disbelief."^ 

»P.  169:  Life  and  Letters  of  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  by  James  Grant 
WiUon,  N.  Y. 

•  In  a  MS.  note  on  a  copy  of  The  Culprit  Fay,  Drake  says :  "  The  reader 
will  find  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  salt  water  a  little  further  up  the 
Hudson  than  they  usually  travel:  but  not  too  far  for  the  purposes  of 
poetry."  Duyckinck's  Cyclopedia  of  Awcrican  Literature,  article,  Joseph 
Rodman  Drake. 


35 

But  such  demonstrations  of  the  "  Americanism "  of  the 
poem  seem  to  leave  something  out  of  account.  Nothing 
American  can  be  Hterature  that  does  not  first  have  in  it  some- 
thing a  good  deal  greater  than  America.  The  question  is  not 
at  bottom  one  of  the  local  realism  of  the  poem.  Are  the  Elf 
Monarch  and  his  company  really  dancing  still  in  the  woodlands 
of  the  Hudson  by  the  light  of  the  mid-summer  moon?  Are 
they  of  the  same  fibre  with  the  crew  that  Rip  Van  Winkle 
knew  ?  The  question  goes  deeply  into  the  -nature  of  Drake's 
poem.  Any  attentive  reader  of  The  Culprit  Fay  can  feel  the 
daintiness,  the  lightness,  and  the  melody  with  which  the  ma- 
terials of  the  story  are  compounded.  This  for  example  is  the 
portrayal  of  Fay  accoutred  for  his  second  quest: — 

He  put  his  acorn  helmet  on; 

It  was  plumed  of  the  silk  of  the  thistle  down: 

The  corslet  plate  that  guarded  his  breast 

Was  once  the  wild  bee's  golden  vest ; 

His  cloak,  of  a  thousand  mingled  dyes, 

Was  formed  of  the  wings  of  butterflies; 

His  shield  was  the  shell  of  a  lady-bug  queen. 

Studs  of  gold  on  a  ground  of  green 

And  the  quivering  lance  which  he  brandished  bright, 

Was  the  sting  of  a  wasp  he  had  slain  in  flight. 

Swift  he  bestrode  his  fire-fly  steed; 
He  bared  his  blade  of  the  bent  grass  blue; 

He  drove  his  spurs  of  the  cockle  seed. 
And  away  like  a  glance  of  thought  he  flew, 
To  skim  the  heavens,  and  follow  far 
The  fiery  trail  of  the  rocket-star. 

Poe  in  an  early  review  of  Drake's  poems^  invites  attention  to 
the  curiously  mechanical  way  in  which  the  details  of  this 
picture  are  selected  and  combined.  To  prove  that  it  is  me- 
chanical he  wrote  a  parody  of  the  stanza  substituting  other 
details  of  accoutrement  for  those  presented : 

"His  blue-bell  helmet,  we  have  heard 
Was  plumed  with  the  down  of  the  humming-bird, 
The  corslet  on  his  bosom  bold 

7  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  April,  1836. 


36 

Was  once  the  locust's  coat  of  gold, 

His  cloak,  of  a  thousand  mingled  hues, 

Was  the  velvet  violet,  wet  with  dews, 

His  target  was  the  crescent  shell 

Of  the  small  sea  Sidrophel, 

And  a  glittering  beam  from  a  maiden's  eye 

Was  the  lance  which  he  proudly  wav'd  on  high. 

Such  a  picture,  says  Poe,  can  be  made  by  any  one  tolerably 
acquainted  with  the  qualities  of  the  objects  to  be  detailed,  and 
possessing  a  very  rftoderate  endowment  of  the  faculty  of  com- 
parison. Fancy,  said  Coleridge,  combines  the  facts  of  experi- 
ence into  new  forms ;  and  the  stanza  which  I  have  quoted  from 
The  Culprit  Fay  is  plainly  what  Coleridge  would  have  called 
a  product  of  fancy,  rather  than  a  work  of  creative  imagina- 
tion, like  Tint  em  Abbey,  blending  its  materials  into  ideal 
visions  touched  with  "  the  light  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea." 
To  Poe  this  distinction  between  fancy  and  imagination  was 
unreal ;  and  his  favored  example,  as  it  happened,  for  exempli- 
fying the  lack  of  poetic  ideality  in  a  poem  composed  appar- 
ently within  the  provisions  of  the  Coleridgean  definition,  was 
none  other  than  The  Culprit  Fay.^  Frankly  speaking,  the 
limitation  of  The  Culprit  Fay,  from  the  point  of  view  of  larger 
and  permanent  things,  lies  in  a  relative  deficiency  in  what  Poe 
calls  ideality,  or  "the  Poetic  Sentiment";  in  what  today  we 
frequently  call  the  connotation  of  spiritual  values.  It  is  the 
relative  deficiency  of  this  quality  that  fixes  a  gulf  between 
Keats  and  Drake,  so  broad  that  any  real  comparison  is  im- 
possible. It  is  this  that  essentially  differentiates  the  Fairy 
magically  bodied  forth  in  Shelley's  Queen  Mab — the  passage 
is  quoted  by  Poe— from  the  Culprit  or  the  Sylph  in  the  poem 
of  Drake.     This  is  Shelley : 

The  Fairy's  frame  was  slight;  yon  fibrous  cloud 
That  catches  but  the  faintest  tinge  of  even. 
And  which  the  straining  eye  can  hardly  seize 
When  melting  into  eastern  twilight's  shadow, 

•Cf.  review  by  Foe  of  Moore's  Alciphron,  in  Burton's  Gentleman's 
Magaxine.  January.  1840. 


37 

Were  scarce  so  thin,  so  slight;  but  the  fair  star 

That  gems  the  glittering  coronet  of  morn, 

Sheds  not  a  light  so  mild,  so  powerful. 

As  that  which,  bursting  from  the  Fairy's  form, 

Spread  a  purpureal  halo  round  the  scene, 

Yet  with  an  undulating  motion. 

Swayed  to  her  outline  gracefully. 

And  yet  I  have  the  feehng  that,  in  the  last  analysis,  Poe 
denied  too  much  to  The  Culprit  Fay.  It  was  Poe's  way  to 
emphasize  the  negative  in  all  his  criticisms.  It  is  true  that  the 
unevenness  and  inconsistency  of  youthful  workmanship  are 
there.  Technically  the  work  does  need  pruning,  and  it  does 
lack  proportion;  and  Drake  did  not  revise;  he  improvised. 
And  there  had  been  too  high  praise.  But  Drake  was  only 
twenty-one  when  he  wrote  the  poem.  He  was  the  first  of  our 
American  poets  to  seek  to  find  the  Way  of  Glamour;  and  he 
journeyed  on  his  pathway  alone.  The  wonder  is  that  such  a 
poem  should  have  been  written  in  America  at  all  in  1816. 
Such  lightness  and  airiness  of  touch,  such  musical  verse  were 
well  nigh  unique  in  our  earlier  poetry;  they  are  rare  in  our 
later.  As  I  read  the  poem  today  the  music  of  its  verse  and  the 
daintiness  of  its  story  seem  to  me  to  blend  in  a  charm  that 
brings  a  sweet  and  genuine,  if  not  a  powerful  appeal  of  poetic 
reality  across  the  century  to  this  day  of  our  commemoration. 

At  this  point  of  the  memorial  exercises  Drake's  poem  The 
American  Flag  was  sung  to  stirring  music  composed  for  the 
occasion^  by  Edwin  S.  Tracy,  musical  director  of  the  Morris 
High  School;  one  hundred  pupils  of  the  school  participating 
in  the  mixed  chorus  were  accompanied  by  the  Morris  High 
School  orchestra  of  several  dozen  instruments.  The  audience 
greeted  this  number  by  rising  and  giving  the  composer  an 
ovation. 

Charles  de  Kay,  Esq.,  the  well-known  author,  poet,  and 
critic,  as  well  as  grandson  of  Drake,  then  presented  a  valuable 
paper  on  the  lineage  of  our  poet,  which  follows: 

1  The  music  with  piano  accompaniment  has  been  published  by  Mr. 
Tracy,  who  also  provided  full  score  orchestration  for  his  pupils  in  manu- 
script. 


38 

JOSEPH   RODMAN   DRAKE 
His  Ancestry 

Of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  the  poet,  who,  Hke  Keats,  died 
too  early,  it  may  be  said  that  he  was  his  own  ancestor. 

Good  American  doctrine,  that,  and  well  suited  to  the  boy 
who  wrote  The  American  Flag. 

With  the  exception  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  from  whose 
family  he  descended,  none  of  the  name  seems  to  have  made 
any  great  noise  in  the  world,  although  many  there  were  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  who  upheld  the  name  by  their  con- 
duct and  attainments  as  soldiers,  sailors  and  citizens  of  emi- 
nence and  worth.  In  Berlin  during  the  reign  of  the  firsi; 
German  Emperor  there  lived  a  sculptor  of  note,  named  Drake, 
who  was  an  offshoot  of  this  widely  spread  and  efficient  stock. 
He  is  best  known  for  the  winged  figure  on  the  Victory  Column 
that  overtops  the  statues  along  the  Sieges  Allee  in  the  Thier- 
garten,  statues  which  represent  the  ancestors  of  the  German 
autocrat. 

However  we  Americans,  in  our  ambition  to  make  good  use 
of  the  present  and  prepare  for  the  future,  may  neglect  the  past, 
it  is  only  natural  that  we  should  like  to  know  about  the  an- 
cestry of  men  of  genius  and  of  mark.  Though  we  may  reject 
the  extreme  to  which  China,  for  instance,  has  pushed  the 
worship  of  ancestors,  we  can  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  value  of 
inherited  traits,  and  so  are  led  to  acknowledge  that  it  is  well 
for  a  man  to  have  fore-bears  whom  their  fellows  applauded. 
This  is  only  to  maintain  a  just  poise  and  keep  the  true  per- 
spective in  our  attitude  toward  men,  neither  permitting  our- 
selves to  give  undue  weight  to  the  forefathers  of  a  stock,  nor 
allowing  ourselves  to  be  hurried  to  the  other  extreme  by  our 
preference  for  democracy.  One  of  the  wisest  among  the 
Greeks  under  Roman  rule,  Plutarch,  as  you  may  remember, 
kept  always  to  that  dignified  moderateness.  Whenever  he 
could,  he  recounted  the  family  origin  of  the  men  who  live 


39 

again  in  his  wonderful  books.  Yet  the  celebrity  without 
known  ancestry,  or  one  of  a  base  descent  receives  the  fairest 
and  most  impartial  treatment  at  his  hands. 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake  was  the  son  of  Jonathan  Drake  of 
Westchester  County,  one  of  a  very  prolific  branch  of  the 
family.  Many  relatives  of  his  name  bore  their  share  of  victory 
and  disaster  in  the  Revolution.  Joseph's  mother  was  Hannah 
Lawrence  of  the  Effingham  Lawrence  family  on  Long  Island. 
John  and  Joseph  were  favorite  names  among  the  Drakes.  At 
a  meeting  in  1706  of  the  justices,  churchwardens  and  vestry 
of  the  parish  which  at  that  time  included  Westchester,  East- 
chester  and  Yonkers,  John  Drake  is  one  of  the  justices  and 
Lieutenant  Joseph  Drake  is  one  of  the  vestry.  Jonathan,  the 
poet's  father,  who  died  when  Joseph  Rodman  was  a  child,  was 
the  son  of  Moses  Drake  of  Dutchess  County,  who  died  during 
the  Revolution.  One  of  the  brothers  of  Moses  was  Colonel 
Joseph  Drake  of  New  Rochelle  who  long  outlived  his  famous 
grandnephew.  Their  father  was  Benjamin  Drake,  third  in 
descent  from  Samuel  Drake  of  Fairfield,  Conn.,  he  having 
received  a  grant  of  land  in  1650  from  the  freeholders  of  that 
settlemient,  and  fourth  from  John  Drake  who  came  over  from 
Plymouth  to  Boston  in  1630,  and  settled  in  Windsor,  Conn., 
soon  after  that  date.  He  was  the  son  of  another  John  of 
Plymouth,  England. 

Thus  these  Drakes  of  Eastchester,  Westchester  and  Dutchess 
hark  back  to  a  John  Drake  of  Plymouth  in  England  who  was 
of  the  council  of  that  seaport  in  1606  and  one  of  a  company 
empowered  by  James  the  First  to  attend  to  the  settling  of  New 
England.  So  far  as  known,  this  John  Drake  did  not  cross 
the  Atlantic.  He  was  closely  affiliated  to  the  Drake  family  at 
Ashe,  that  of  Sir  Francis  Drake.  He  is  said  to  have  had 
twelve  children,  of  whom  at  least  two  sons  came  to  America. 

Notably  was  it  the  John  Drake  mentioned  who  came  to 
Boston  from  Plymouth  in  1630  and  settled  in  Windsor  from 
whom  the  Westchester  Drakes  derive. 

The  coat  of  arms  of  Sir  Francis  Drake  is  what  the  French 


40 


call  annes  parlantes  and  the  English  "  Canting  arms  "  which 
means  that  the  object  emblazoned  refers  to  the  sound  of  the 
name.  We  might  call  such  a  charge  a  rebus.  Now  a 
"drake"  in  Shakesperian  English  is  a  dragon,  in  Latin  draco. 
So  the  charge  on  the  shield  of  Sir  Francis  was  a  dragon,  called 
in  the  jargon  of  British  heraldry  a  wivern,  a  winged  lizard 
such  as  Germans  would  call  a  Lindwurm.  After  the  Revolu- 
tion the  American  branches  kept  the  monster  as  the  charge 
on  the  shield,  but  substituted  for  the  wivern  in  the  crest  an 
eagle,  thereby  asserting  with  emphasis  their  independence  of 
the  mother  country,  that  independance  for  which  so  many 
Drakes  in  Connecticut,  New  York  and  New  Jersey  had  fought 
and  suffered.  And  especially  those  nearest  to  the  poet — his 
father,  uncles  and  cousins — since  their  homes  lay  within  that 
tormented  and  bloody  ground  where  the  raiders  from  the 
patriot  and  British  lines,  the  "cowboys"  and  "skinners" 
plundered  everybody  with  sinister  impartiality. 

The  Drake  coat  of  arms  was  singularly  appropriate  to  sea- 
farers in  southern  England  who  may  well  have  descended  from 
the  vikingr  or  baymen  of  a  much  earlier  age,  heathen  who 
harried  and  in  many  spots  founded  towns  on  the  south  and 
east  shores  of  Britain.  Drake  or  dragon  was  a  well-known 
word  for  the  long  rowing  and  sailing  galley  of  the  vikingr, 
so  named  because  the  prow  and  stern  were  carved  in  the  form 
of  the  head  and  tail  of  the  monster.  By  virtue  of  his  name  a 
Drake  was  ordained  as  a  seagoer  and  seafighter. 

The  Drakes  of  Eastchester  and  Westchester  were  related, 
naturally,  to  many  other  landed  families,  notably  the  descend- 
ants of  Thomas  Hunt  who  as  early  as  1652  owned  portions  of 
Throgmorton's  Neck  on  the  East  River,  called  Throgg's  Neck 
for  short,  as  well  as  the  Rodmans  of  Rodman's  Neck  in  East- 
chester. 

Born  in  1795  and  losing  his  father  at  an  early  age,  Joseph 
Rodman  Drake  had  a  sad  childhood,  which  was  darkened  still 
further  when  his  mother  married  again  and  with  his  sisters 
left  for  New  Orleans,  where  his  stepfather  lived.     Intensely 


41 

affectionate  in  his  character  and  finding  among  his  more  im- 
mediate relatives  no  congenial  souls,  it  was  with  his  relatives 
at  Hunt's  Point,  less  closely  allied,  that  he  felt  and  found 
sympathy. 

Judging  from  a  miniature  painting  when  he  was  about 
twenty-two,  a  handsomer  mortal  was  not  easily  found. 
Golden  hair,  dark  'blue  eyes,  beautifully  modelled  features,  a 
slender  but  well  knit  figure — he  must  have  attracted  others 
as  he  did  Dr.  James  B.  de  Kay  and  Fitz-Greene  Halleck.  As 
we  know,  the  latter's  enthusiasm  was  profound,  not  merely 
for  his  friend's  mind  and  character,  but  for  his  physical 
comeliness. 

The  old  grange  of  the  Hunts  at  Hunts  Point  contained 
young  people  as  well  as  old,  amongst  others  the  late  Mrs.  John 
Rush  of  Philadelphia,  in  whose  honor  Joseph  wrote  various 
poems  expressing  admiration  if  not  exactly  love.  But  these 
made  on  the  young  girl  a  deep  impression.  In  later  life  she 
delighted  in  recalling  those  early  scenes  of  childhood  at  Hunt's 
Point  and  tell  her  hearers  about  the  poet  and  Fitz  his  friend. 

Thus,  during  his  school  days  and  later,  when  studying  medi- 
cine in  the  office  of  a  New  York  physician,  Joseph  was  wont 
to  take  boat  on  the  East  River  and,  braving  the  baffling  cur- 
rents of  Hell  Gate,  land  at  the  old  house  which  still  stands, 
looking  out  on  the  wide  stretches  of  the  bays.  There  he  found 
a  true  home  among  the  kind  aunts  and  uncles ;  he  could  come 
and  go  at  will,  row  about  the  shining  reaches,  explore  the 
Harlem  River,  or  else  ramble  along  the  sylvan  banks  of  the 
Bronx.  To  these  outings  we  owe  the  pensive,  charming  lines 
on  the  Bronx,  to  these  visits  we  owe  the  fact  that  when,  tardily, 
he  came  to  realize  that  his  malady  was  fatal,  he  begged  his 
wife  to  lay  him,  not  in  the  Drake  tomb  near  the  church  at 
Eastchester,  but  in  the  little  private  burying  ground  of  the 
Hunts  and  Leggetts,  on  a  knoll  shaded  with  cedars  and  nut- 
trees,  within  sight  of  the  grange  which  had  given  a  home  to 
the  orphan.  Had  it  not  been  for  this,  the  Borough  of  the 
Bronx  might  never  have  had  a  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  Park, 


42 

nor  is  it  likely  that  the  other  American  poets  whose  names  are 
now  given  to  adjacent  streets,  would  have  been  thus  honored 
by  the  Borough. 

After  the  literary  exercises  at  the  Morris  High  School  had 
been  concluded  with  the  singing  of  "The  Star  Spangled 
Banner,"  the  members  of  the  Society  and  guests  proceeded  by 
automobiles  to  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  Park,  at  Hunts  Point, 
where  the  graves  of  Drake  and  his  sister  had  been  substantially 
restored  by  the  Society,  having  been  enclosed  by  an  eliptical 
iron  fence  set  upon  eight  granite  fence  blocks,  whilst  a 
Tiffany  bronze  tablet  containing  lines  from  Halleck's  elegiac 
poem  on  Drake  had  been  placed  upon  the  tombstone.  The 
total  expense  of  this  work  was  $273.25. 

A  large  and  attentive  audience  witnessed  the  unveiling  exer- 
cises. The  Hon.  James  L.  Wells,  Treasurer  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  read  an  important  paper  on  "The  Hunt  Family 
and  Hunt's  Point,"  which  revealed  a  remarkable  knowledge  of 
local  history,  deduced  from  much  research  and  personal  in- 
formation. It  is  expected  that  this  paper,  which  should  not 
be  lost,  will  be  prepared  for  future  publication  when  Ml-. 
Wells  can  find  more  time  than  is  available  now  with  his 
arduous  duties  in  the  service  of  the  State. 

The  unveiling  of  the  tablet  was  gracefully  performed  by 
Miss  Helena  van  Brugh  de  Kay,  a  great-granddaughter  of  the 
poet.  As  the  folds  of  the  American  flag  were  drawn  aside. 
revealing  the  first  verse  of  Halleck's  tribute  to  Drake,  Chair- 
man Paltsits  read  the  touching  poem,  which  follows : 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake  Park, 
May  29,  191 5. 

GREEN   BE  THE  TURF. 

Fritz-Greene  Halleck. 

Written  at  the  old  Hunt  Grange  in  memory  of  his  friend  and  companion, 

JOieph  Rodman  Drake,  a  few  days  after  his  death,  Sept.  21,  1820. 

Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 

Fj-iend  of  my  better  days  1 


43 

None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 
Nor  named  thee  but  to  praise. 

Tears  fell  when  thou  wert  dying, 
From  eyes  unused  to  weep, 
And  long,  where  thou  art  lying, 
Shall  tears  the  cold  turf  steep. 

When  hearts  whose  truth  was  proven, 
Like  thine,  are  laid  in  earth, 
There  should  a  wreath  be  woven 
To  tell  the  world  their  worth. 

And  I  who  wake  each  morrow, 
To  clasp  they  hand  in  mine. 
Who  shared  thy  joy  and  sorrow. 
Whose  weal  and  woe  were  thine — 

It  should  be  mine  to  braid  it 
Around  thy  faded  brow; 
But  I've  in  vain  assayed  it 
And  feel  I  cannot  now. 

While  memory  bids  me  weep  thee. 

Nor  thoughts,  nor  words  are  free. 

The  grief  is  fixed  too  deeply  ' 

That  mourns  a  man  like  thee. 

Then  Mr.  Davis  on  behalf  of  the  Society  formally  pre- 
sented the  tablet  and  railing  to  the  city  of  New  York  through 
the  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Whittle,  Park  Commissioner  of  the 
Borough  of  the  Bronx,  who  accepted  the  transfer  in  a  few 
well-chosen  words.  No  sooner  had  he  finished  speaking  than 
the  first  gun  of  the  National  Salute  to  the  Flag  was  fired  by 
Battery  E,  Second  Field  Artillery,  N.  G.,  N.  Y.,  Lieutenant 
Robert  W.  Marshall  commanding.  As  the  last  gun  was  fired, 
the  Battery  bugler  sounded  "  Taps  "  at  the  tomb.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Society  and  guests  returned  to  the  automobiles  and 
rode  to  Bronx  Park,  the  gorge  of  the  river  below  the  old 
snuff-mill  being  reached  at  six  o'clock.  The  veil  of  evening 
was  soon  to  fall  as  a  fit  termination  of  a  glorious  memorial 
day.     Daylight  lingered  long  enough  for  the  unveiling  of  the 


44 

Tiffany  bronze  tablet  at  the  gorge  and  for  an  inspection  of  the 
exhibition  of  works  by  and  relating  to  Drake  in  the  Society  s 
museum  in  the  Mansion  above  the  gorge. 

At  the  unveiling  exercises  in  the  Bronx  Park  gorge,  Mr. 
Davis,  as  chairman  of  the  Council,  spoke  as  follows : 
Fricftds  of  the  Beautiful  in  Nature  and  in  Language:^ 

Thinking  in  the  ideal,  expressing  the  workings  of  imagina- 
tive minds,  poets  live  at  an  altitude  and  breathe  an  atmosphere 
far  removed  from  the  valley  of  fog  wherein  the  struggling 
millions  wear  their. lives  away. 

"  Pained  with  the  pressure  of  unfriendly  hands, 
Sick  of  smooth  looks,  agued  with  icy  kindness  " 

they  fail  to  find  in  their  fellows  that  responsive  sympathy  and 
understanding  which  their  spirits  crave,  and  seek  solace  in 
these 

"shades  where  none  intrude, 

To  prison  wandering  thought  and  mar  sweet  solitude." 

The  frail  body  of  him  whom  we  honor  today  yielded  up  its 
spirit  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-five.  Too  young  to  have 
experienced  much  of  the  bitterness  of  life,  of  gentle  manners 
and  winning  ways,  yet  even  this  amiable  young  man,  so  well 
beloved  by  his  fellows  as  we  know  him  to  have  been,  found 
in  this  river  "  a  face  more  pleasant  than  the  face  of  men," 
and  in  its  waves  found  "  old  companions." 

A  century  ago  Drake  loved  to  come  and  sit  upon  these 
banks ;  he  loved  this  "  gentle  river  " ;  talked  to  it  as  though  it 
understood  him;  called  it  **my  own  romantic  Bronx." 

Many  thousands,  in  the  intervening  years,  have  come  and 
sat  upon  these  banks,  have  looked  upon  this  river  and  have 
here  found  that  respite  from  the  troubles  of  a  weary  life 
which  makes  existence  more  endurable. 

His  master-piece  a  fairy-tale,  no  wonder  Drake  was  charmed 
by  this  fairyland  of  sylvan  loveliness !  Under  the  spell  of  its 
magic  beauty,  as  we  stand  here  today  and  look  around  us,  it 
requires  no  poet's  imagination  to  appreciate  his  poetic  ecstasy: 


45 

"  Sweet  sights,  sweet  sounds,  all  sights,  all  sounds  excelling, 
Oh !  'twas  a  ravishing  spot  formed  for  a  poet's  dwelling." 

If  we  may  conceive  that  the  spirit  of  Drake  hovers  over  this 
gathering  at  the  close  of  this  beautiful  May  day,  hov^  his  soul 
must  rejoice  that  this  enchanted  ground  has  been  preserved 
inviolate  and  is  dedicated  in  perpetuity  to  all  the  people,  not 
alone  of  this  great  city,  but  of  the  world  at  large,  for  the 
beauties  of  the  Bronx  bring  pilgrims  from  everywhere. 

On  the  bank  of  the  river  which  inspired  his  charming  poem, 
the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences  now  dedicates  one 
verse  in  imperishable  bronze,  as  a  tribute  alike  to  the  poet  and 
to  the  source  of  his  inspiration. 

Dr.  Nathaniel  L.  Britton,  Director  of  the  New  York 
Botanical  Garden  and  a  member  of  the  Drake  Memorial  Com- 
mittee, presided  at  the  gorge  exercises.  He  next  presented 
Chairman  Paltsits,  who  read  Drake's  poem  on  the  Bronx, 
which  follows : 

BRONX. 

I  sat  me  down  upon  a  green  bank-side, 

Skirting  the  smooth  edge  of  a  gentle  river. 
Whose  waters  seemed  unwillingly  to  glide. 

Like  parting  friends  who  linger  while  they  sever ; 
Enforced  to  go,  yet  seeming  still  unready, 

Backward  they  wind  their  way  in  many  a  wistful  eddy. 

Grey  o'er  my  head  the  yellow-vested  willow 

Ruffled  its  hoary  top  in  the  fresh  breezes. 
Glancing  in  light,  like  spray  on  a  green  billow. 

Or  the  fine  frost-work  which  young  winter-  freezes ; 
When  first  his  power  in  infant  pastime  trying, 

Congeals  sad  autumn's  tears  on  the  dead  branches  lying. 

From  rocks  around  hung  the  loose  ivy  dangling. 

And  in  the  clefts  sumach  of  liveliest  green, 
Bright  ising-stars  the  little  beach  was  spangling, 

The  gold-cup  sorrel  from  his  gauzy  screen 
Shone  like  a  fairy  crown,  enchased  and  beaded. 
Left  on  some  morn,  when  light  flashed  in  their  eyes  unheeded. 

The  hum-bird  shook  his  sun-touched  wings  around, 

The  bluefinch  caroll'd  in  the  still  retreat; 
The  antic  squirrel  capered  on  the  ground 


46 

Where  lichens  made  a  carpet  for  his  feet: 
Through  the  transparent  waves,  the  ruddy  minkle 
Shot  up  in  gUmmering  sparks  his  red  fin's  tiny  twinkle. 

There  were  dark  cedars  with  loose  mossy  tresses, 
White  powdered  dog-trees,  and  stiff  hollies  flauntmg 

Gaudy  as  rustics  in  their  May-day  dresses, 
Blue  pelloret  from  purple  leaves  upslanting 

A  modest  gaze,  like  eyes  of  a  young  maiden 

Shining  beneath  dropt  lids  the  evening  of  her  wedding. 

The  breeze  fresh  springing  from  the  lips  of  morn, 

Kissing  the  leaves,  and  sighing  so  to  lose  'em. 
The  winding  of  the  merry  locust's  horn. 

The  glad  spring  gushing  from  the  rock's  bare  bosom : 
Sweet  sights,  sweet  sounds,  all  sights,  all  sounds  excelling, 
Oh!  'twas  a  ravishing  spot  formed  for  a  poet's  dwelling. 

And  did  I  leave  thy  loveliness,  to  stand 

Again  in  the  dull  world  of  earthly  blindness? 
Pained  with  the  pressure  of  unfriendly  hands, 

Sick  of  smooth  looks,  agued  with  icy  kindness? 
Left  I  for  this  thy  shades,  where  none  intrude. 
To  prison  wandering  thought  and  mar  sweet  solitude? 

Yet  I  will  look  upon  thy  face  again. 

My  own  romantic  Bronx,  and  it  will  be 
A  face  more  pleasant  than  the  face  of  men. 

Thy  waves  are  old  companions,  I  shall  see 
A  well-remembered  form  in  each  old  tree. 
An  hear  a  voice  long  loved  in  thy  wild  ministrelsy. 

As  the  last  verse  was  being  read,  the  verse  which  had  been 
cast  in  bronze,  Miss  Slyvia  de  Kay,  a  winsome  maid  of  twelve 
summers  and  a  great-granddaughter  of  the  poet,  drew  aside 
the  American  flag  and  revealed  those  words  which  so  pecu- 
liarly signalize  Drake  as  *'  The  Bronx  Poet.'*  The  setting  of 
these  unveiling  exercises  will  not  be  effaced  from  the  memory 
of  those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  present.  The  quiet 
of  the  scene  was  broken  only  by  the  echo  of  the  river's  rapids, 
rustling  trees,  and  the  song-notes  or  twitter  of  birds  engaged 
in  the  vespers  of  the  fainting  day. 

The  exercises  closed  with  a  view  of  the  Drake  exhibition 
already  alluded  to. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

OF  THE  WRITINGS 


OF 


DR.  JOSEPH  RODMAN  DRAKE 


AND  SOME  REFERENCES  TO 


WORKS  RELATING  TO  HIM 


BY 
VICTOR  HUGO  PALTSITS 


FOREWORD 

WHEN  some  years  ago  I  first  conceived  the  plan  of  form- 
ing a  collection  of  the  writings  of  Dr.  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake  to  be  presented  to  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  as  has  since  been  done,  I  had  no  idea  that  so  much 
could  be  brought  together.  The  usual  catalogues  and  bibliog- 
raphies of  American  poetry  mentioned  only  a  few  editions. 
It  is  gratifying,  therefore,  to  be  able  to  announce  that  the 
Society's  collection  now  lacks  only  a  few  titles  and  is.  so  far 
as  known  to  me,  the  fullest  complement  of  Drake  editions  in 
any  public  or  private  possession. 

The  bibliography  presented  here  is  not  definitive,  but  it  is 
nearly  complete  for  separate  publications  of  Drake. 

V.  H.  P. 
August,  1918 


48 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Order  of  Arrangement 


1.  Writings  of  Drake.  3.  Some  Books  and  Articles 

2.  Notes     on     some    Manu-  about  Drake. 

scripts  of  Drake.  4.  Miscellany. 


I.     WRITINGS   OF   DRAKE 

The  Croakers 

The  Poetry  of  the  Portfolio.  Collected  by  Oliver  Old- 
school  [i.  e.,  Joseph  Dennis].     Philadelphia:  H.  Hall,  1818. 

18°.  Includes  for  the  first  time  in  book  form  three  poems  by 
Drake  and  Halleck,   signed  "  Croaker  &  Co.,"   as   follows : 

"To .  Esq.";  "Abstract  of  a  Surgeon-General's  [Dr. 

Mitchill's]  Report,"  and  "A  Loving  Epistle  to  Mr.  Wm. 
Cobbett  of  North  Hempstead,  L.  1." 

Poemis,  /  by  /  Croaker,  Croaker  &  Co.  /  and  /  Croaker, 
Jun.  /  as  published  /  in  the  Evening  Post.  /  {Parallel  lines 
and  quotation  from  Shakespeare']  /  Published  for  the  Reader. 
/  New  York — 18 19. 

16°;  title,  verso  blank;  text,  headed  "Poems,"  pp,  [3] — 36. 
Signatures :  A — C  in  sixes.     The  first  edition  in  book  form. 

The  copy  described  is  owned  by  Alfred  T.  White,  Esq.,  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  has  pasted  on  the  front  flyleaves  three 
of  the  original  Croaker  poems  cut  from  the  "  New  York 
Evening  Post."  One  of  these  is  a  squib  "  To  E.  Simpson,  Esq. 
Manager  of  the  Theatre,"  annotated  in  a  contemporary  hand 
with  the  names  of  the  persons  lampooned,  as  follows:  S — 
Sanford;  V —  B —  Van  Buren;  C —  Clinton;  "Justice 

49 


50 

Shallow'*  Judge  Woodward;  T—  Tompkins;  old  R—  Ross; 
S-  Spencer;  P—  R—  Peter  R.  Livingston;  W—  B—  Walter 
Bowne;  M—  Mayor;  C— n  and  W— r  Christian  and  Warner, 
Police  Justices;  B— r  Buckmaster;  H—  Haff;  M—  Meigs; 
V—  W—  Van  Wyck;  G— n  Gelston;  M— 11  and  G— r  Max- 
well and  Gardinier;  B— n  Bolton;  G— t  Gilbert;  P—  H.  W— 
Peter  H.  Wendover;  P— 11  F.  Pell;  M— 11  Mitchell  [sic  for 

Mitchill]. 

In  the  text  of  the  book,  identifications  of  names  have  been 
written  with  lead  pencil  on  many  of  the  pages,  thus:  p.  13, 
Baron  V—  H—  Van  Hoffman;,  p.  14,  M— rr— y's  Guards 
Murray;  p.  14,  J— rv— s  Jarvis;  p.  14,  I^-  Lynch;  p.  21, 
R***  Rose;  p.  23,  P*****  Primes;  p.  25,  B* ****** 
Bogardus;  p.  25,  Doctor  M— 11  Mitchell  [sic  for  Mitchill]; 
p.  25,  T— s  Tompkins;  p.  25,  D— k— y  R— r  Dicky  Riker;  p. 
26,  B— s  Bogardus;  p.  26,  Doctor  M— 11  Mitchell  [for 
Mitchill] ;  p.  27,  Dr.  F— s  Francis;  p.  27,  Col.  M—  Murray; 
p.  28,  J— n  H— ff,  and  B— n  B— 1— y,  and  Chr— st— n,  and 
Br — ck — t  John  Hoff,  Ben  Bailey,  Christian,  Brackett ;  p.  28, 
Colonel  W— rn— r  Warner;  p.  28,  M — p — s  Mapes;  p.  28, 
M — gs  Meigs. 

There  is  no  copy  of  this  edition  in  the  collection  of  the 
Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  In  1893,  A.  S.  Clark, 
a  bookseller,  offered  a  copy  for  $10;  the  McKee  copy  was 
sold  in  1900  for  $36;  Dodd,  Mead  and  Co.  offered  an  uncut 
copy  in  1908  for  $125 ;  an  uncut  copy  was  sold  in  the  Maier 
sale,  on  Nov.  16,  1909,  for  $49;  and  the  Chamberlain  copy.. 
sold  also  in  November,  1909,  with  a  defective  title  and  some 
pages  spotted,  fetched  only  $7.50. 

These  poems  were  reprinted  on  pp.  498-507  of  Waldie's 
Octavo  Library,  no.  22,  for  May  31,  1836,  and  of  this  issue 
the  Bronx  Society  has  a  copy.  See  also  Holden's  "Dollar 
Magazine,"  for  June,  1848,  p.  324. 

The  /  Croakers  /  by  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  /  and  /  Fitz 
Greene  Halleck  /  First  Complete  Edition  /  [Seal  of  Bradford 
Club]  I  New  York  /  MDCCCLX. 


51 

Royal  8°;  half-title  of  "Bradford  Club  Series.  Number 
two,'  verso  blank;  title-page,  with  copyright,  etc.  on  verso; 
"Club  Copy,"  verso  blank;  "Preface,"  pp.  [v]— vi;  "Con- 
tents," pp.  [vii] — viii;  text,  pp.  [I] — 133;  134 blank;  "Notes," 
PP-  [135] — 179;  180  blank;  "Index,"  pp.  [181] — 191;  orna- 
ment on  verso  of  p.  191.  Steel-engraved  portraits  of  Drake 
and  Halleck  as  frontispieces.  The  Society  has  a  "Club 
Copy"  presented  by  John  B.  Moreau  to  Dr.  L.  R.  Koecker, 
but  lacks  the  Drake  portrait.  Other  copies  seen  are  in  the 
New  York  Public  Library,  which  has  also  copies  of  the  "  Sub- 
scriber's Copy "  issue,  in  yellow  wrappers  with  paper  label 
and  in  green  pocked  cloth,  with  gilt  lettering  on  the  back. 
These  issues  are  identical  save  for  the  leaf  which  indicates 
their  issue.  The  Club  edition  was  for  members  and  limited 
to  one  hundred  copies.  The  other  copies  were  sold  to  sub- 
scribers. 

The  editors  state  in  the  preface:  "More  than  once  since 
their  first  appearance  in  the  columns  of  the  daily  newspapers, 
efforts  have  been  made  for  their  collection  in  print,  and  one 
or  two  unauthorized  gatherings  have  thus  been  made,  while 
numerous  copies  more  or  less  complete,  prepared  with  con- 
siderable trouble,  have  been  circulated  in  manuscript.  .  .  . 
The  collection  will  be  found  to  contain  several  original 
Croakers  by  Mr.  Halleck,  which,  though  written  at  the  period 
of  the  others,  have  not  hitherto  seen  the  light,  while  several 
additions  of  a  similar  nature  have  been  made  from  the  manu- 
scripts of  Drake."  The  best  edition  of  these  pleasant  satires, 
with  indispensable  explanatory  notes.  In  the  Manuscript 
Division  of  the  New  York  Public  Library  there  is  a  neatly- 
written  collection  of  the  Croaker  poems,  in  two  pocket-size 
volumes,  the  paper  of  one  having  a  watermark  date  of  1802, 
and  the  other  a  watermark  date  of  1815.  They  belonged  to 
Mr.  James  Lenox,  whose  autograph  is  on  the  front  flyleaf  of 
one  of  the  volumes  and  may  have  come  to  him  in  his  youth, 
as  he  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  the  year  1800, 
son  of  Robert  Lenox,  one  of  the  chief  merchant  princes  of 


52 

the  city  in  that  day.  These  volumes  are  interesting  as  con- 
temporary compilations,  circulated  in  this  form  among  the 
elite  of  the  city  of  New  York  when  the  poems  were  fresh  and 
the  talk  of  the  town. 

The  Bradford  edition  has  been  an  extra-illustrator's  hobby. 
In  the  John  D.  Crimmins  sale,  Nov.  lo,  1916,  there  was  a 
copy  extended  to  four  volumes  by  the  insertion  of  about  460 
portraits  and  plates,  as  well  as  some  autograph  letters.  It 
sold  for  $75.  Less  interesting  extra-illustrated  copies  have 
been  sold  for  $50  or  less.  There  is  an  extra-illustrated  copy 
in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

The  Culprit  Fay 

The  Culprit  Fay.     By  the  late  Joseph  Rodman  Drake. 

This  poem  was  circulated  in  manuscript  for  many  years 
before  it  was  printed.  Extracts,  more  or  less  garbled,  had 
found  their  way  into  the  London  Athenceum  and  also  in 
American  periodicals.  It  seems  to  have  been  printed  entire 
for  the  first  time  in  the  Boston  Pearl,  from  which  it  was  re- 
printed, with  the  addition  of  an  important  head-note,  in  the 
New-York  Mirror,  of  July  11,  1835,  pp.  12-14.  A  portion 
of  the  poem  had  aleady  appeared  in  the  Mirror  some  years 
before,  but  the  above  printings  seem  to  have  been  the  first 
complete  presentations  and  preceded  its  appearance  in  the 
authorized  collection  of  Drake's  poems  which  Dearborn  pub- 
lished in  1835  for  the  poet's  daughter.  It  was  in  the  Mirror, 
too,  that  the  authorized  volume  received  attention  by  an  excel- 
lent review,  in  the  issue  of  November  21,  1835,  pp.  164-165. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay  /  and  /  other  Poems.  /  By  Joseph  Rod- 
man Drake.  /  New- York:  /  George  Dearborn,  Publisher.  / 

1835. 

8**;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  portrait  of  Drake, 
painted  by  Rodgers  and  engraved  on  steel  by  T.  Kelly,  with  in- 
scription giving  incorrectly  the  dates  of  birth  and  death  of 
Drake;  steel  engraved  title-page  by  James  Smillie  after  Robert 


t  [HI  r 


AND    OTHER    POEMS   BY 


J)®SE^&fl   IR 


'^^Sr  FROM  ABOVE  WEST  POINT  ON    THE    HUDSON 


(GEORGE  -  DEAMB€)]RM.  PUBLISHER 


Engraved  Title  Page  of  First  Collection  of  Poems. 


I 


Portrait  from  the  1835  Edition  of  his  Poems. 


53 

W.  Weir,  dated  1835;  printed  title-page  dated  1835,  with 
copyright  of  "  October  31,  1835  "  in  the  name  of  the  publisher, 
on  the  verso,  and  below  the  imprint  of  Scatcherd  and  Adams; 
dedication  by  Drake's  daughter  "  To  her  father's  friend  Fitz- 
Greene  Halleck,"  with  verso  blank;  ''Index,"  with  verso 
blank;  text,  pp.  [i] — 84.  Figured  blue  cloth  binding,  with 
gilt  lyre  on  both  covers.  There  is  a  copy  in  the  Society's  col- 
lection. Halleck's  own  interesting  copy,  with  numerous  mar- 
ginal corrections,  alterations,  and  notes  in  his  hand,  was  sold 
on  Nov.  4,  1909,  at  the  auction  of  the  J.  Chester  Chamberlain 
collection  of  American  first  editions.  This  edition  was  also 
issued  by  Dearborn  as  a  composite  with  Halleck's  "Alnwick 
Castle,  with  other  Poems,"  published  by  him  in  1836.  The 
Bronx  Society  has  a  copy  presented  by  Dr.  Britton.  Its  bind- 
ing is  ornamental  cloth  with  a  gilt  lyre  on  both  covers  and  the 
back  is  lettered  simply  DRAKE  |  &  |  HALLECK.  A  copy 
in  the  New  York  Public  Library  is  bound  in  dark  blue  morocco, 
with  the  gilt  lyre  on  both  covers  within  a  gilt  panel,  and  with 
the  edges  gilt. 

Analysis  of  contents :  "  The  Culprit  Fay,"  pp.  [  i  ] — 32 ;  ''  To 
a  Friend"  [Fitz  Greene  Halleck],  pp.  [33]— 39;  "Extracts 
from  Leon.  An  unfinished  poem,"  pp.  [41] — 56;  "Niagara," 
pp.  57-59;  two  songs,  pp.  60  and  61;  "Written  in  a  lady's 
album,"  p.  62;  "Lines  To  a  Lady"  [Miss  Eliza  McCall],  p. 
63;   "Lines  Written  on  leaving  New  Rochelle,"   p.   64-65; 

"Hope,"  pp.  65-66;  "Fragment,"  pp.  67-70;  "To ," 

p.  71;  "Lines,"  p.  72]  "To  Eva,"  p.  73;  "To  a  Lady  [Miss 
Eliza  McCall]  with  a  withered  violet,"  p.  74;  "Bronx,"  pp. 
75-77;  "Song,"  pp.  78-79;  "To  Sarah,"  pp.  79-81;  "The 
American  Flag,"  pp.  81-84. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay,  /  and  /  other  Poems.  /  By  Joseph  Rod- 
man Drake.   /  New-York:   George   Dearborn,   Publisher.    / 

1836. 

*  8°;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  portrait,  same  as 
1835  edition;  steel  engraved  title-page,  same  as  1835  edition 


54 

and  so  dated;  printed  title-page  dated  1836,  with  verso  as  in 
1835  edition;  dedication,  verso  blank;  "Index,"  verso  blank; 
text,  beginning  with  sig.  B  on  p.  [9]  and  ending  on  p.  92. 
This. is  the  second  edition  entirely  reset  and  with  slight  cor- 
rections. The  Society's  copy  is  bound  in  plain  dark  brown 
cloth  with  a  gilt  vase  and  flowers  on  both  covers.  The  copy 
in  the  New  York  Public  Library  is  bound  in  dark  blue  floriated 
cloth,  with  a  gilt  title  on  the  back,  and  a  gilt  lyre  on  both 
covers.  "  The  New-York  Book  of  Poetry,"  also  published  by 
Dearborn,  in  1837,  contains  some  poems  of  Drake.  It  is  the 
first  collection  of  New  York  verse.  There  is  a  copy  in  the 
Society's  collection. 

The  Rococo :  /  containing  /  the  Culprit  Fay,  /  by  Joseph 
Rodman  Drake;  /  Lillian,  /  by  WilHam  Macworth  Praed;  / 
and  /  The  Eve  of  St.  Agnes,  /by  John  Keats;  /  (Three  of 
the  most  delicious  poems  ever  written.)  /  With  original  notes 
/  by  N.  P.  Willis.  /  New  York:  /  Morris,  Willis,  &  Co.,  Pub- 
lishers, /  No.  4  Ann-Street.  /  1844. 

8° ;  cover-title,  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [i] — 16.  Back  cover, 
advertisements.  In  the  Mirror  Library,  being  the  "New 
Mirror  Extra — No.  8."  Page  16  has  a  valuable  note  by 
Willis.  The  Bronx  Society  has  it  in  a  set  of  "The  New 
Mirror,"  the  original  wrappers  having  been  wasted  in  binding. 
The  New  York  Public  Library  has  a  copy  in  the  original 
wrappers,  stitched,  as  issued. 

These  literary  extras  were  issued  with  the  periodical  edited 
by  George  P.  Morris  and  N.  P.  WilHs,  entitled :  "  The  New 
Mirror,  of  Literature,  Amusement,  and  Instruction,"  which 
began  on  April  8,  1843,  and  ran  till  September  28,  1844,  when 
its  form  was  changed.  In  the  number  for  September  21, 
1844,  (vol.  3,  no.  25),  on  p.  398,  a  poem  by  Drake  was  pre- 
sented, entitled :  "  To  the  Defenders  of  New-Orleans,"  which 
had  made  its  first  appearance  in  a  little  New  Jersey  paper 
called  Young  Hickory.  The  first  three  verses  of  this  poem, 
omitting  the  fourth,  were  printed  in  the  "  Magazine  of  His- 


55 

tory,"  vol.  5  ( 1907),  p.  274,  ostensibly  as  an  unpublished  poem 
of  Drake,  notwithstanding  its  earlier  appearance  in  print  so 
many  years  before.  The  original  manuscript  of  the  poem 
was  formerly  in  the  collection  of  the  late  John  D.  Crimmins, 
of  New  York  City.  At  the  time  of  its  sale,  on  April  8,  1907, 
some  critics  had  questioned  its  authenticity  as  a  Drake  item. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay,  /  and  /  other  Poems.  /  By  Joseph  Rod- 
man Drake.  /  New- York :  /  Van  Norden  and  King,  45  Wall 
Street.  /  1847. 

8° ;  portrait  frontispiece  of  Drake,  same  plate  as  in  1835 
edition;  half-title,  verso  blank;  printed  title,  with  copyright 
of  1847  by  George  C.  De  Kay  on  verso;  engraved  title,  with 
date  1847,  verso  blank;  "Index,"  with  verso  blank;  dedication 
to  Halleck  by  Drake's  daughter,  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [9] — 
92.  Page  [48]  is  blank.  Black  cloth,  blind  stamped  borders 
and  gilt  urn  on  both  covers.  De  Kay  was  the  poet's  son-in- 
law,  who  had  married  Janet  Halleck  Drake,  the  poet's  only 
child.  The  copy  owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  has  a  presenta- 
tion inscription,  thus:  "For  C.  J.  Stille  from  the  Author's 
grandchild.  New  York — 1855."  Charles  Janeway  Stille  was, 
from  1 868-1 880,  the  eminent  provost  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  The  New  York  Public  Library  has  a  copy  with 
"Mrs.  F.  F.  Bryant,  August,  1847"  on  a  flyleaf,  from  the 
William  Cullen  Bryant  collection. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay.  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  New 
York :  /  Rudd  &  Carleton,  130  Grand  Street,  /  (Brooks  Build- 
ing, cor.  of  Broadway.)  /  MDCCCLIX. 

12°;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  of  the  Fay,  with 
recto  blank;  title-page,  with  copyright  of  1859,  and  imprint 
of  R.  Craighead,  on  verso;  "Advertisement,"  with  verso 
blank;  quotation  from  Tennant,  with  verso  blank;  half-title 
to  "  Poem,"  with  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [13]— 62;  blank  leaf; 
"Catalogue  of  the  Publications  of  Rudd  &  Carleton,"  con- 
sising  of  title,  with  two  children  on  verso,  and  pp  1-5 ;  verso 


56 

of  p.  5  blank.  There  are  also  copies  which  have  a  catalogue  of 
six  pages,  differing  in  content.  Brown  pocked  cloth,  gilt 
lettering  on  back  and  blind  stamped  monogram-  of  the  pub- 
lishers on  both  covers. 

This  is  the  first  separate  edition  of  "  The  Culprit  Fay,"  but 
unauthorized.  On  p.  6  of  the  "Catalogue"  is  an  announce- 
ment of  "a  charming  edition"  of  the  poem  "printed  on  col- 
ored plate  paper,"  bound  in  muslin.  Presumably  it  is  the 
edition  described  above.  J.  R.  D.  De  Kay,  a  grandson  of  the 
poet,  writing  about  this  publication  to  the  editor  of  The  Home 
Journal,  on  March  30,  1859,  said:  "Gentlemen:  An  edition  of 
Joseph  Rodman  Drake's  poem,  '  The  Culprit  Fay,'  having  been 
recently  issued  by  a  publishing  house  in  this  city,  and  ex- 
tensively advertised  for  sale,  I  hereby  announce  that  the  edi- 
tion was  published  without  the  consent  of  the  family  of  the 
late  Mr.  Drake,  and  that  the  sale  is  peremptorily  stopped.  It 
was  the  desire  of  the  Author  that  his  poems  should  not  be  pub- 
lished, and,  to  pervent  it,  a  few  copies  of  this,  and  others,  were 
printed  some  years  since  [/.  e.,  1847],  for  private  circulation, 
and  a  copyright  registered.  It  is  doubtless  in  ignorance  of 
these  facts  that  these  gentlemen  [i.  e.,  Rudd  and  Carleton] 
now  issue  it.  Several  other  editions  of  'The  Culprit  Fay' 
have  appeared  at  various  times,  which  have  as  in  this  case 
been  immediately  suppressed."  Notwithstanding  this  declara- 
tion, Rudd  and  Carleton,  or  their  successors,  continued  to 
bring  out  editions  and  the  record  thereof,  so  far  as  ascertained, 
is  given  in  this  bibliography.  The  text  of  all  editions  with 
the  imprint  of  R.  Craighead  is  from  the  same  stereotype  plates, 
which  show  the  natural  wear  in  later  impressions.  The  Bronx 
Society  copy  has  the  5  page  catalogue;  two  copies  in  the  New 
York  Public  Library  have  a  6  page  catalogue  but  varying  in 
make-up. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  New 
York:  /  Rudd  &  Carleton,  130  Grand  Street,  /  (Brooks 
Building,  cor.  of  Broadway.)  /  MDCCCLX. 


57 

12°;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  of  the  Fay,  with 
recto  blank;  title,  with  copyright  of  1859  and  imprint  of  R. 
Craighead  on  verso;  "Advertisement,"  verso  blank;  quota- 
tion from  Tennant,  verso  blank;  half-title  to  "Poem,  verso 
blank;  text,  pp.  [13] — 62;  blank  leaf;  "Catalogue  of  the 
Publications  of  Rudd  &  Carleton,"  consisting  of  half-title, 
with  cut  of  two  children  on  verso,  and  pp.  [i] — 6.  Binding, 
brown  pockmarked  cloth,  like  the  1859  issue.  Description 
made  from  a  copy  in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  New 
York:  /  Rudd  &  Carleton,  130  Grand  Street,  /  (Brooks  Build- 
ing, cor.  of  Broadway.)  /  MDCCCLXII. 

12°;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  of  the  Fay,  with 
recto  blank;  title-page,  with  copyright  of  1859,  and  imprint  of 
R.  Craighead,  on  verso;  "Advertisement,"  with  verso  blank; 
quotation  from  Tennant,  with  verso  blank;  half-title  to 
"Poem,"  with  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [13] — 62.  Brown 
pocked  cloth,  gilt  lettering  on  back  and  blind  stamped  mono- 
gram of  the  publishers  on  both  covers.  A  manuscript  inscrip- 
tion on  the  front  flyleaf  of  the  copy  owned  by  the  Bronx 
Society  bears  the  date  of  "  December  2d — 1861,"  which  proves 
that  the  issue  was  printed  off  late  in  1861,  the  title-page  being 
dated  ahead  as  of  1862.  There  is  also  a  copy  in  the  New 
York  Public  Library. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  [Pub- 
lisher's anagram]  /  New  York:  /  Carleton,  Publisher,  413 
Broadway.  /  (late  Rudd  &  Carleton.)  /  MDCCCLXIV. 

12°;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  of  the  Fay,  with 
recto  blank;  title,  with  copyright  of  1859  and  imprint  of  R. 
Craighead,  on  verso;  "Advertisement,"  with  verso  blank; 
quotation  from  Tennant,  with  verso  blank;  half-title  to 
"Poem,"  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [13]— 62;  "A  new  Catalogue 
of  Books  issued  by  Carleton,"  with  date  1864  at  top,  pp.  [i]  — 
8.     Indigo  colored  cloth,  embossed  with  wave-lines  and  panels, 


58 

gilt  lettering  on  back.     Described  from  copy  in  Brown  Uni- 
versity (Harris  Collection). 

The  /  Culprit  Fay  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  New 
York:  /  Carleton,  Publisher,  413  Broadway.  /  (late  Rudd  & 
Carleton.)  /  M     DCCC    LXV. 

12°;  half-title,  verso  blank;  frontispiece  of  the  Fay,  with 
recto  blank;  title-page,  with  copyright  of  1859,  and  imprint 
of  R.  Craighead,  on  verso;  ''Advertisement,"  with  verso 
blank;  quotation  from  Tennant,  with  verso  blank;  half-title  to 
"Poem,"  with  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [13]— 62.  Red  cloth, 
gilt  lettering  on  back  and  gilt  title  in  a  panel  on  front  copy. 
Copy  owned  by  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  /  New 
York:  /  Carleton,  Publisher,  413  Broadway.  /  (late  Rudd  & 
Carleton.)  /  MDCCCLXV. 

16°;  half-title,  with  announcement  of  "An  Illustrated  Edi- 
tion" as  in  press,  in  verso;  title-page,  with  copyright  of  1859, 
and  imprint  of  R.  Craighead,  on  verso;  "Advertisement,' 
with  verso  blank;  quotation  from  Tennant,  with  verso  blank; 
half-title  to  "Poem,"  with  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [13] — 62. 
Green  cloth,  gilt  lettering  on  back  and  gilt  title  in  panel  on 
front  cover.  Copy  owned  by  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and 
Sciences. 

The  illustrated  edition  promised  in  the  announcement  for 
the  Christmas  holidays  of  1865,  I  have  not  seen.  It  was  the 
first  edition  "with  nearly  one  hundred  exquisite  illustrations 
by  Lumley"  and  was  "beautifully  bound  in  quarto."  The 
copyright  was  registered  as  of  1866.  At  the  Charles  C. 
Moreau  sale,  on  April  16,  191 5,  there  was  sold  a  complete  set 
of  the  engraver's  proofs  of  the  illustrations  on  India  paper. 
They  were  bound  in  a  volume,  half  morocco,  with  a  special 
finely-executed  title-page. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay.  /  A  Poem  /  By  Joseph  Rodman  Drake. 
/  With  One  Hundred  Illustrations,  by  Arthur  Lumley.   / 


59 

[Circular  cut  of  the  Fay]  /  New  York:  /  Carleton,  publisher. 
/  MDCCCLXVIL 

12°;  half-title,  with  frontispiece  on  verso;  title-page,  with 
copyright  of  1866  and  imprint  of  Alvord,  on  verso;  ''Adver- 
tisement," with  verso  blank;  "List  of  the  principal  illustra- 
tions," pp.  [9] — 10;  quotation  from  Tennant,  with  verso 
blank;  half-title,  illustrations  and  text  of  poem,  pp.  [13] — 118. 
Illustrated  throughout.  Red  cloth,  imitation  morocco,  gilt 
lettering  on  back  and  front  cover,  with  gilt  circular  design  of 
the  Fay,  copied  from  the  engraving  on  p.  65,  lacking  the  moon. 
Described  from  .copy  owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts 
and  Sciences. 

The  Culprit  Fay.  /  A  Poem  /  by  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  / 
With  One  Hundred  Illustrations,  by  Arthur  Lumley.  /  [Cir- 
cular cut  of  the  Fay,]  /  New  York:  /  Carleton,  publisher.  / 
MDCCCLXXI. 

12°;  half-title,  with  frontispiece  on  verso;  title-page,  with 
copyright  of  1866  on  verso;  "Advertisement,"  illustrations. 
half-title  to  "Poem,"  and  text,  pp.  [11] — 118.  Illustrated 
throughout.  Binding  in  green  cloth,  gilt  lettering  on  back 
and  gilt  figure  of  the  Fay  on  upper  lefthand  corner  of  the 
front  cover.  The  Bronx  Society's  copy  is  internally  im- 
perfect. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay.  /  A  Poem  /  By  Joseph  Rodman  Drake. 
/  With  One  Hundred  Illustrations,  by  Arthur  Lumley.  /  [Cir- 
cular cut  of  the  Fay]  /  New  York :  /  Carleton,  publisher  / 
MDCCCLXXV. 

12°;  half-title,  with  frontispiece  on  verso;  title-page,  with 
copyright  of  1866  and  imprint  of  John  F.  Trow  &  Son,  on 
verso;  "Advertisement,"  with  quotation  from  Tennant  on 
verso;  half-title,  illustrations,  and  text  of  poem,  pp.  [13]— 
118.  Illustrated  throughout.  Light  brown  cloth,  gilt  letter- 
ing on  back;  front  cover  with  title  and  in  its  lower  righthand 
corner  a  gilt  circular  design  of  the  Fay  with  a  silver  moon, 


6o 

in  imitation  of  the  engraving  on  p.  65.     Copy  owned  by  the 
Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  Culprit  Fay.  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  New 
York:  /  Kilbourne  Tompkins,  16  Cedar  Street.  /  1875. 

Square  16°;  title,  with  verso  blank;  text,  22  unnumbered 
pages.  Grey  cloth,  with  title  in  gold  on  front  cover.  De- 
scribed from  copy  in  New  York  Public  Library. 

The  /  Culprit  Fay.  /  A  Poem  /  By  Joseph  Rodman  Drake. 
/  With  One  Hundred  Illustrations,  by  Arthur  Lumley.  /  [Cir- 
cular cut  of  the  Fay]  /  New  York :  /  Carieton,  publisher.  / 
MDCCCLXXXIII. 

12°;  half-title,  with  frontispiece  on  verso;  title-page,  with 
copyright  of  1866  and  imprint  of  Trow's  Printing  and  Book- 
binding Co.,  on  verso;  ''Advertisement,"  with  quotation  from 
Tennant  on  verso;  half-title,  illustrations,  and  text  of  poem, 
pp.  [13] — 118.  Illustrated  throughout.  Limp  tan-colored 
imitation  morocco,  with  black  silk  binding  cords,  and  gilt  script 
title  on  front  cover.  Copy  owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  of 
Arts  and  Sciences. 

Literary  Gems  /  The  Culprit  Fay  /  By  /  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake  /  New  York  and  London  /  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  /  The 
Knickerbocker  Press  /  1891. 

24°  ;  "^37  PP-»  text  printed  on  one  side  only.  Frontispiece  of 
the  Fay  by  W.  de  Meza,  1889.  Copy  owned  by  the  Bronx 
Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  Culprit  Fay,  and  other  Poems,  by  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake.  With  a  title-page  and  vignettes  by  Edmund  H. 
Garrett.  Printed  for  the  Rowfant  Club,  Cleveland: 
MDCCCXCIII. 

8°;  pp.  96.  The  second  publication  of  this  private  book 
club.  The  edition  consisted  of  five  copies  on  vellum  and 
ninety-five  copies  on  handmade  paper.  I  have  not  seen  this 
edition. 


The  Culprit  Fay.  Illustrated  by  Ross  and  Turner.  [New 
York:]  George  D.  Sproul,  1902. 

4° ;  text  beautifully  printed,  one  side  only,  on  49  leaves  of 
genuine  vellum,  with  illuminated  initial  letters,  and  having  a 
separate  leaf  of  vellum  for  the  highly  illuminated  title-page; 
also  blank  leaves  of  vellum  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the 
book.  This  is  the  edition  of  the  St.  Dunstan  Illuminated 
Classics,  of  which  perhaps  not  more  than  ten  copies  were 
issued.  They  were  elaborately  bound.  A  copy  was  sold  at 
auction  by  Stan  V.  Henkels,  of  Philadelphia,  on  Dec.  21, 
1904,  for  $77.50;  another  sold  at  the  American  Art  Galleries, 
on  March  27,  1917,  fetched  $100.  I  have  not  seen  this 
edition. 


The  American  Flag 

The  /  American  /  Flag.  /  By  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  / 
Illustrated  from  original  drawings  by  F.  O.  C.  Darley.  / 
Illuminated  cover  by  John  A.  Hows.  /  Music  from  Bellini,  by 
Geo.  Danskin.  /  New  York:  /  James  G.  Gregory,  No.  46 
Walker  Street.  /  1861. 

4°;  cover-title,  verso  blank;  text  of  poem,  with  head  illus- 
trations, four  leaves,  with  the  versos  blank;  music,  pp.  (4); 
advertisements,  p.  (i),  with  head  of  liberty  and  imprint  of 
C.  A.  Alvord,  on  verso.  The  Bronx  Society  has  a  copy.  I 
have  also  examined  three  copies  in  the  New  York  Public 
Library. 

The  American  Flag.  /  By  J.  R.  Drake. 

8° ;  broadside,  two  columns  of  text  on  one  sid'e  only  This 
very  rare  broadside  edition,  measuring  ghy  sH  inches,  is  un- 
dated. It  was  probably  printed  during  the  Civil  War,  and 
the  word  free  in  the  last  verse  is  emphasized  by  italics.  Copy 
owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  and  is  the  only  one  I  have  ever 
seen.  It  was  formerly  in  the  collection  of  American  first 
editions  formed  by  J.  Chester  Chamberlain. 


62 

The  /  American  Flag  /  Cantata  /  for  /  Bass  and  Tenor 
soli  /  Chorus  /  and  /  Orchestra  /  words  by  /  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake  (A.  D.  1815)  /  Music  /  by  /  Antonin  Dvorak  /  Op. 
102  /  Vocal  Score,  Pr.  $1.00  Net  /  New  York:  G.  Schirmer 
/  Copyright,  1895,  by  G.  Schirmer  /  [three  lines  in  cartouche]. 

8°;  ornamental  cover-title;  title-page,  with  verso  blank; 
text  of  "The  American  Flag,"  verso  blank;  music,  pp.  3-47. 
Copy  owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  American  Flag  /  Words  by  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake  / 
Music  by  /  Edwin  S.  Tracy.  /  [Music]  /  Published  by  E.  S. 
Tracy  1195  Boston  Road  N.  Y.  /  Price  8p  /  Copyright  1915 
by  E.  S.  Tracy 

Royal  8°;  music  with  words,  pp.  [i] — 13.  Blank  outer 
wrapper.  This  original  setting  was  composed  by  Professor 
Tracy,  Director  of  Music  in  The  Morris  High  School,  Bronx, 
New  York  City,  especially  for  the  Drake  Memorial  Celebra- 
tion of  May  29,  191 5,  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  Bronx 
Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences.     Copy  owned  by  the  Society. 


Miscellaneous  Writings 

Selections  from  the  poetry  of  Drake  have  appeared  in  many 
anthologies  as,  for  example,  the  New-York  Book  of  Poetry 
(New  York,  1837) ;  Bryant's  Selections  from  the  American 
Poets  (New  York,  1840) ;  Griswold's  Readings  in  American 
Poetry  (New  York,  1843),  and  his  Poets  and  Poetry  of 
America  (various  editions)  ;  Tuckerman's  Thoughts  on  the 
Poets  (New  York,  1846),  with  an  appreciative  critique  of 
"The  Culprit  Fay";  Duyckinck's  Cyclopedia  of  American 
Literature;  Waldron's  Irving  and  Cotemporaries  (New  York, 
n.  d.),  and  their  many  successors. 

Poems  have  been  printed  in  literary  periodicals  and  the 
newspapers,  from  time  to  time,  and  the  following  are  some 
of  the  principal  references:  "To  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  Esq. 
A  poem  by  Dr.  Joseph  Rodman  Drake,"  in  The  New  York 


63 

Mirror,  March  3,  1832;  poems  in  American  Monthly  Magch 
dne,  vol.  6,  p.  65 ;  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  vol.  2,  p.  326; 
Democratic  Review,  vol.  14,  p.  202;  Holden's  Dollar  Magor 
zine,  June,  1848,  p.  324;  "To  my  Sister  Caroline"  was  first 
printed  in  The  Independent,  in  1872;  and  a  collection  based 
upon  the  manuscript  volume  owned  by  Judge  Tillou,  Drake's 
brother-in-law,  in  the  New  York  Daily  Tribune,  January  6, 
1881. 

A  continuation  of  "  The  Culprit  Fay,"  signed  ''  Oberon," 
appeared  in  The  New  York  Mirror. 

Interesting  is  a  fine  poem,  written  in  the  spirit  of  Drake's 
"The  Culprit  Fay,"  and  intended  as  an  introduction  to  it. 
The  author,  Dr.  Harry  Lyman  Koopman,  now  librarian  of 
Brown  University,  has  presented  a  copy  to  the  Drake  Col- 
lection owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
from  which  the  following  description  has  been  made,  viz. : 

The  Crime  /  of  the  /  Culprit  Fay  /  Introductory  to  Drake's 
Poem  /  By  /  Harry  Lyman  Koopman  /  300  Copies  Printed 
as  Manuscript  /  for  Private  Distribution  /  Burlington  Ver- 
mont /  1890. 

12°;  title,  with  printer's  name  on  verso;  dedication,  with 
verso  blank;  text  of  poem,  pp.  [5] — 22;  blank  leaf.  Yellow 
paper  cover;  on  front  cover:  "The  Crime  of  /  The  Culprit 
Fay  /  H  L  Koopman's  /  Yule  Gift  to  his  /  Friends  1890." 
The  copy  owned  by  the  Bronx  Society  is  inscribed :  "  For  the 
Drake  Collection,  a  token  of  life-long  homage  from  Harry 
Lyman  Koopman." 

Judge  Gedney  arranged  in  libretto  "The  Culprit  Fay"  for 
an  operetta,  as  performed  about  1883.  An  ambitious  attempt 
to  set  to  music  "  The  Culprit  Fay  "  was  made  by  the  composer 
Frederick  Grant  Gleason  (b.  1848;  d.  1903),  in  his  opus  15, 
a  cantata  for  soli,  chorus,  and  orchestra.  Dudley  Buck,  the 
American  composer  (b.  1839,  d.  1909) »  was  called  to  Chicago 
as  an  organist  in  1869.  During  the  great  fire  he  lost  many 
manuscripts,  among  them  being  a  concert  overture  on  "  The 


64 

Culprit  Fay,"— Cited  from  "American  Composers,"  by  Ru- 
pert Hughes  (Boston,  1914),  P-  167.  It  has  also  been  set 
as  a  rhapsody  for  grand  orchestra,  by  Henry  Kimball  Hadley, 
as  follows : 

Henry  Hadley  /  Op.  62  /  The  Culprit  Fay  /  A  Rhapsody  / 
for  /  Grand  Orchestra  /  after  Joseph  Rodman  Drake's  Poem 
/  Score  /  Parts  /  New  York :  G.  Schirmer  /.../.../ 
.../.../.../  [Copy.     1910]. 

F°;  cover-title,  verso  blank;  title,  verso  blank;  insert  "Pro- 
gramme Sketch,"  by  Arthur  Farwell,  English  and  German, 
one  leaf;  music  score,  no  words,  pp.  1-59;  verso  of  p.  59  and 
recto  of  end  cover,  blank ;  verso  of  cover  has  publisher's  trade- 
mark. Copies  described  in  New  York  Public  Library  (Music 
Division)  and  the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  description  above  is  for  the  full  score.  The  rhapsody 
was  published  also  in  the  parts  for  the  instruments.  Hadley 
began  the  composition  at  Mayence  in  April,  1908;  and  com- 
pleted his  work  in  the  spring  of  1909.  It  won  the  prize  of 
$1,000  offered  by  the  National  Federation  of  Music  Clubs, 
for  which  twenty-five  competitors  entered.  The  rhapsody 
was  first  performed  on  May  28,  1909,  at  Powers  Theatre. 
Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  The  composer  himself  led  the  Theo- 
dore Thomas  orchestra  on  this  occasion  of  its  production,  as 
he  did  the  Boston  Symphony  Orchestra  on  November  18  and 
19,  191  o.  It  was  played  by  the  Theodore  Thomas  orchestra, 
with  Mr.  Stock  as  conductor,  at  regular  concerts  of  October 
29  and  30,  1909,  and  in  other  cities,  as  Detroit,  Cleveland,  and 
Memphis.  It  was  also  included  as  a  repertoire  number  by  the 
Seattle  Symphony  orchestra  and  has  been  performed  by  the 
Philadelphia  Orchestra  Association. 

Another  American  composer,  Henry  Schoenefeld  (b.  1857) 
produced  a  festival  overture  based  on  his  own  setting  of 
Drake's  "  The  American  Flag."  It  has  not  been  ascertained 
whether  the  score  was  ever  published. 


65 
2.     NOTES  ON  SOME  MANUSCRIPTS  OF  DRAKE 

Original  manuscripts  of  Drake  are  uncommon.  In  the  fol- 
lowing record,  which  is  not  intended  to  be  complete,  may  be 
found  some  of  the  most  interesting  manuscripts  that  have 
survived. 

The  New  York  Public  Library  has  the  original  autographic 

manuscript  of  Drake's  Croaker  poem,  entitled:  "To  

Esquire,"  whose  first  line  is,  "  Come,  shut  up  your  Blackstone, 
&  sparkle  again."  It  is  written  on  paper  with  a  watermark 
date  of  1812. 

A  poem  written  in  1818,  for  Miss  Halleck,  16  lines;  with 
another  poem  on  the  reverse,  being  "A  true  and  faithful  in- 
ventory of  goods  belonging  to  Doctor  Swift,"  together  two 
pages,  folio,  was  offered  by  Dodd,  Mead  and  Co.,  in  Novem- 
ber, 1901  (Catalogue  No.  61,  item  100)  for  $10.  The  poem 
to  Miss  Halleck  begins :  "  In  a  fair  lady's  heart  once  a  secret 
was  lurking." 

A  Drake  manuscript  poem,  in  the  sale  of  Gen.  James  Grant 
Wilson,  by  the  Merwin-Clayton  Sales  Co.,  on  April  13,  1905, 
fetched  $52. 

A  poem  of  four  verses  of  eight  lines  each,  written  on  two 
quarto  pages,  headed:  "Lines  addressed  to  the  Defender  of 
New  Orleans,  the  Day  before  the  Battle  of  the  8th  of  Janu- 
ary, 181 5.  By  Dr.  J.  R.  Drake,"  was  sold  by  the  Anderson 
Auction  Company,  on  April  8,  1907,  in  the  autograph  collec- 
tion of  John  D.  Crimmins,  of  New  York  City,  for  $46.  It 
begins,  "  Hail !  Sons  of  gen'rous  Valour ! "  It  was  bought  by 
William  Randolph  Hearst,  the  newspaper  publisher.  It  was 
first  printed  in  a  little  New  Jersey  paper  called  Young  Hickory, 
and  reprinted  in  The  New  Mirror,  edited  by  Morris  and 
Willis,  on  Sept.  21,  1844  (vol.  3,  no.  25,  p.  398).  Its  incom- 
plete printing  in  the  Magazine  of  History,  vol.  5  {1907),  p. 
274,  as  though  hitherto  unpublished,  was  an  error. 

Dodd,  Mead  and  Co.  offered,  in  Catalogue  No.  90,  May, 
1908,  item  106,  an  antograph  manuscript,  four  pages,  quarto. 


66 

being  a  prose  literary  criticism  by  Drake  of  a  poem  entitled, 
''The  Faithless  Heart,"  for  $40.  It  was  derived  from  the 
papers  of  Fitz-Greene  Halleck  and  came  into  the  possession  of 
Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson,  Halleck's  literary  executor.  Ap- 
parently not  sold  by  Dodd,  Mead  and  Co.,  it  appeared  in  a 
sale  of  effects  of  General  Wilson,  at  the  rooms  of  the  Merwin- 
Clayton  Sales  Co.,  May  ia-12,  1910,  item  268  of  catalogue 

322. 

An  autograph  poem,  three  verses  of  eight  lines  each;  fol- 
lowed by  another  of  two  verses  of  four  lines  each  in  a  different 
handwriting,  together  two  pages,  octavo,  was  sold  by  the 
Anderson  Auction  Co.,  of  New  York  City,  on  December  2, 
1909,  in  part  i  of  the  library  of  Louis  J.  Haber,  of  New  York 
City,  item  524,  for  $6.50.  The  Drake  poem,  entitled:  "Abe- 
lard  to  Eloise,"  is  the  identical  manuscript  which  was  repro- 
duced in  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson's  Bryant  and  his  Friends. 
It  has  been  offered  recently  (1917),  in  a  catalogue  of  George 
D.  Smith,  the  well-known  bookseller,  item  224,  for  $50. 

A  holograph  letter  of  Drake  to  his  sister,  in  regard  to  the 
death  of  his  grandmother,  dated  at  New  York,  September 
18,  1812,  two  pages,  was  sold  at  the  Anderson  Galleries,  on 
March  27,  1916,  for  $115. 

The  first  place  of  Drake  manuscripts  is  easily  held  by  a 
volume  sold  by  the  Anderson  Galleries,  on  May  i,  19 16,  in 
the  Sanderson  sale;  but  the  volume  did  not  come  from  that 
collection,  being  added  from  a  private  source.  It  was  bought 
by  a  bookseller  for  $985  and  has  since  been  held  at  a  much 
higher  price.  Some  time  before  the  sale  it  was  offered  to  me 
for  $500  through  another  dealer  in  autographs.  This  chief 
Drake  memento  is  an  autograph  manuscript  note-book,  en- 
titled :  "  Trifles  in  Rhyme,  by  J.  Rodman  Drake,  New  York, 
181 7."  It  has  fifty  closely  written  pages  and  title,  octavo 
size,  all  In  Drake's  hand,  comprising  autographic  originals  of 
"The  Culprit  Fay,"  "The  American  Flag"  (with  Halleck's 
last  verse  in  autograph),  "Niagara,"  and  shorter  poems. 
The  rest  of  the  volume,  more  than  135  pages,  have  poems  in 


6; 

the  autograph  of  Francis  R.  Tillou,  Drake's  brother-in-law. 
Several  of  these  refer  to  Drake  and,  I  believe,  some  are 
Tillou's  copies  of  poems  by  Drake.  This  is  the  volume  which 
has  been  known,  particularly  from  the  facsimiles  in  Gen.  James 
Grant  Wilson's  Century  article  on  Drake.  The  New  York 
Public  Library  has  an  important  literary  letter  from  W.  I. 
Paulding  to  Evert  A.  Duyckinck,  dated,  January  22,  1868. 
which  makes  mention  of  Tillou  and  this  volume. 

An  original  poem,  "  One  happy  year  has  fled,"  consisting  of 
four  verses  of  eight  lines  each,  on  two  octavo  sheets,  was  sold 
in  the  Hollis  French  sale,  by  the  Anderson  Galleries,  of  New 
York  City,  on  Nov.  8,  19 16,  for  $37.50.  It  was  offered  in 
191 7  by  Thomias  F.  Madigan,  an  autograph  dealer,  in  a  cata- 
logue for  $60. 


3.  SOME  BOOKS  AND  ARTICLES  ABOUT  DRAKE 

No  single  writer  has  contributed  more  to  our  knowledge  of 
Drake  than  the  late  General  James  Grant  Wilson.  The  suc- 
cessive steps  of  his  contributions  may  be  traced  in  the  follow- 
ing  volumes  and  periodical  articles. 

The  /  Poetical  Writings  /  of  /  Fitz-Greene  Halleck,  /  with 
extracts  from  those  of  /  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  /  Edited  by 
/  James  Grant  Wilson.  /  New  York :  /  D.  Appleton  and  Com- 
pany, /  90,  92  &  94  Grand  Street.  /  1869. 

12°;  frontispiece  portrait  of  Halleck;  engraved  title,  verso 
blank;  printed  title,  with  copyright  of  1868  on  verso;  dedica- 
tion to  William  H.  Seward,  with  verso  blank;  ^'Preface,"  pp. 
[v]— xiv;  "Contents,"  pp.  [xv]— xviii;  half-title  to  "Mis- 
cellaneous Poems,"  with  verso  blank;  text,  pp.  [13] — 365; 
366  blank;  half-title  to  "Notes,"  with  verso  blank;  the 
"Notes,"  pp.  [3691—386;  "Index  to  first  lines,"  pp.  [387]— 
389;  verso  of  389  blank;  "Recent  Publications  of  D.  Appleton 
&  Company,"  pp.  (8) ;  a  plate  of  "Young  America,"  facing 
p.  [177].     Green  cloth,  gilt  lettering  on  back  and  on  centre  of 


68 

front  cover.  The  Croaker  poems  occupy  pp.  253-365.  The 
Bronx  Society  has  a  reissue  of  1873.  The  New  York  PubHc 
Libarry  has  issues  of  1869  and  1885.  The  Boston  PubHc 
Library  has  a  reissue  of  1899.  All  have  the  copyright  of  1868. 
A  large  paper  edition,  limited  to  1 50  copies,  was  also  issued 
in  1869.  The  collection  is  like  the  duodecimo  regular  issue, 
except  the  dedication  which  is  here  to  Hamilton  Fish;  it  has 
also  steel-engravings  facing  pp.  [13],  [18],  20,  29,  [46], 
[57],  and  [loi] ;  a  good  Woodbury  type  portrait  of  Drake, 
from  a  miniature  in  the  possession  of  Drake's  daughter,  facing 
P-  [257] ;  a  similar  process  portrait  of  Halleck,  facing  p. 
[331].  There  are  no  advertisements  at  the  end  of  this  issue. 
Both  varieties  are  in  the  New  York  Public  Library. 

The  /  Life  and  Letters  /  of  /  Fitz-Greene  Halleck.  /  By 
James  Grant  Wilson.  /  [Quotation]  /  New  York:  /  D.  Apple- 
ton  and  Company,  /  .  .  .  /  1869.  / 

12°;  also  large  paper,  royal  8°,  of  which  100  copies  were 
printed.  This  work  is  the  best  source  for  information  about 
the  life  of  Drake,  as  well  as  of  Halleck.  Gen.  Wilson  was 
Halleck's  literary  executor.  The  volume  contains  also  two 
pleasant  poetical  epistles  written  by  Drake  to  Halleck  from 
Scotland.  A  large  paper  copy  is  owned  by  the  Bronx  Society 
of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

Bryant  and  his  Friends :  some  Reminiscences  of  the  Knicker- 
bocker Writers.  By  James  Grant  Wlison.  New- York: 
Fords,  Howard  &  Hulbert.     1886. 

12° ;  also  large  paper,  royal  8°,  of  which  195  copies  were 
printed.  A  good  biography  of  Drake  is  given  on  pp.  [280] — 
311,  accompanied  by  a  steel  portrait,  engraved  by  Williams 
after  the  painting  by  Rodgers,  and  between  pp.  292-293  there 
is  a  facsimile  of  the  original  autographic  manuscript  of 
Drake's  "  Abelard  to  Eloise,"  signed  by  him.  This  work  is  in 
the  New  York  Public  Library. 


Rogers,  Pi  nxlt. 


Bnrt.  Seulpl 


C^/z  '^ue.^^  'x/u//^^. 


Portrait  of  Halleck  in  his  Younger  Years. 


69 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  By  James  Grant  Wilson,  in 
Harper's  Magazine,  vol.  49,  p.  65. 

In  an  address  on  New  York  authors,  by  James  Grant 
Wilson,  in  New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Record, 
vol.  24  (January,  1893). 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake,  the  author  of  "The  American 
Flag."  By  James  Grant  Wilson,  in  Century  Magazine,  vol. 
58  (July,  1910),  p.  439.  It  has  portraits  of  Drake  and  Hal- 
leck,  and  important  facsimiles. 

Recollections  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  By  James  Grant 
Wilson,  in  Book  News,  vol.  30,  p.  410. 

Other  biographical  or  critical  articles  have  been  located,  as 
follows : 

Drake's  Poems,  in  The  New  York  Mirror,  1835.  It  is  a 
four-column  review  of  the  first  collected  edition  of  Drake's 
writings  and  was  written,  perhaps,  by  N.  P.  Willis. 

Alnwick  Castle,  with  other  Poems.  [By  Fitz-Greene  Hal- 
leck] .  New  York :  George  Dearborn,  MD  CCC  XXXVI.  In 
this  first  edition  of  Halleck,  his  remarkable  elegiac  poem  "  On 
the  Death  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake^  of  New- York,  Sept. 
1820,"  is  printed  on  pp.  37-39.  A  copy  is  owned  by  the 
Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

The  Muses  of  Manhattan,  with  Drake's  portrait  in  the 
margin,  is  an  article  in  the  Cosmopolitan,  January,  1893. 

Honoring  an  American  Poet.  By  F.  M.  White,  in 
Harper's  Weekly,  vol.  54,  p.  13- 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  By  Richard  Henry  Stoddard,  in 
The  Critic,  vol.  24,  also  called  vol.  27,  p.  83. 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  By  M.  A.  D.  Howe,  in  The  Book- 
man, vol.  5,  p.  304.     Also  relates  to  Halleck. 

An  American  Poet  Honored  at  Last.  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake.  By  G.  W.  Harris,  in  The  Book  News  Monthly,  vol. 
33,  no.  7,  March,  191 5.     A  good  compilation. 

Poetry  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  By  A.  E.  Corning,  in 
The  Bookman,  vol.  41,  P-  574-  A  carefully  written  apprecia- 
tion by  a  student  of  the  Knickerbocker  School. 


70 


Joseph  Rodman  Drake.  The  Poet  of  The  Bronx.  By 
Victor  Hugo  P^altists,  in  Bronx.  Journal  of  the  Bronx  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  vol.  i   (October,  1916). 


4.     MISCELLANY 
(A).     Drake  Park  and  Drake's  Grave 

A  Poet's  Grave,  in  The  New-York  Mirror,  March  4,  1837; 
with  a  woodengraved  view  of  the  Hunt  cemetery  by  Adams. 

Grave  of  Drake.  By  Henry  B.  Dawson,  in  Historical 
Magazine,  vol.  21  (3d  series,  vol.  i),  February,  1872,  pp. 
105-107. 

Grave  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake,  with  picture  of  the  monu- 
ment and  surroundings,  in  The  Four-Track  News,  January, 
1902,  p.  48. 

To  run  a  Street  over  a  Poet's  Grave.  Proposed  desecration 
of  the  Tomb  of  the  Author  of  ''  The  American  Flag,"  in  the 
Evening  Sun,  Sept.  27,  1902. 

Poem  on  "  The  Grave  of  Joseph  Rodman  Drake,"  by  Henry 
G.  Kost,  in  The  North  Side  News,  June  7,  1908.  Friends 
who  honor  Drake's  memory  should  also  read  Clinton  Scol- 
lard's  poem,  entitled,  "At  the  Grave  of  Joseph  Rodman 
Drake,"  published  originally  in  the  New  York  Sun. 

An  interesting  picture  of  the  tomb  of  Drake  and  the  old 
cemetery  gate  at  Hunts  Point,  after  a  drawing  by  E.  Eldon 
Deane,  copyright  1904,  is  in  The  American  Architect,  Janu- 
ary 23,  1904. 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake  Park.  Address  of  James  L.  Wells, 
September  16,  1904.  Printed  pursuant  to  a  Resolution  of  the 
North  Side  Board  of  Trade.  [New  York,  1904.]  8°;  pp. 
15  (i).  Tinted  paper  covers.  Drake's  The  American  Flag 
is  given  on  p.  13.  A  copy  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Bronx 
Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

Joseph  Rodman  Drake  Park,  in  Tenth  Annual  Report  of 
the  American  Scenic  and  Historic-Preservation  Society,  1905, 


71 

pp.  44-49;  also  report  of  the  Drake  Memorial  Celebration  by 
the  Bronx  Society  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  in  Twenty-first  An- 
nual Report y  1916,  pp.  135-138. 

Communications  about  Drake's  grave  by  H.  A.  Guiremand 
are  in  the  New  York  Times,  Sept.  28,  1907,  and  Dec.  4,  1909. 

Grave  of  Drake  in  Peril.  March  of  Progress  threatens  to 
v^ipe  out  the  Hallowed  Landmark,  in  New  York  Times,  Dec. 
27,  1908. 

(B)    Drake  Portraits 

The  portrait  painted  by  Rodgers  and  engraved  by  T.  Kelly 
as  a  frontispiece  to  the  first  collected  edition  of  Drake's  poems, 
1835,  has  often  been  reengraved  or  reproduced  by  process. 

Charles  de  Kay,  Esq.,  grandson  of  the  poet,  is  the  owner 
of  a  pretty  painted  miniature  of  Drake  by  Metcalf. 

The  Society  of  Iconophiles,  of  New  York,  published,  in 
1903,  a  portrait  of  Drake  engraved  by  Francis  S.  King,  from 
an  oil  painting  by  John  Paradise,  in  an  edition  of  103  copies, 
seven  impressions  having  been  taken  as  proofs  before  letter. 
The  plates  were  destroyed  when  the  edition  was  completed. 
A  copy  of  this  print  is  in  the  collection  of  the  Bronx  Society 
of  Arts  and  Sciences. 


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(R2275sl0)476— A-32  University  of  California 

Berkeley 


M54S976 


Y 


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